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Shape-Changing Microrobots Target Cancer Cells

Guided by magnets, fish-shaped microrobots can be directed to cancer cells, where a pH change triggers the release of their chemotherapy cargo. Watch the morphing nanotechnologies in action.

Learn more about these shape-morphing microrobots here  .

Topics:
Automation Medical Robotics

More From SAE Media Group

    Transcript

    00:00:06 Chemotherapy successfully treats many forms of cancer, but the side effects can wreak havoc on the rest of the body. Delivering drugs directly to cancer cells could help reduce these unpleasant symptoms. Now, in a proof-of-concept study, researchers reporting in ACS Nano have made fish-shaped microrobots that are guided with magnets to cancer cells in a petri dish, where a pH change triggers them to open their mouths and release their chemotherapy cargo. To develop these devices, Jiawen Li, Li Zhang, Dong Wu and colleagues began by 4D printing microrobots using a pH-responsive hydrogel. 4D-printing creates 3D-printed objects that change shape in response to certain stimuli, in this case, the acidic pH of tumors. They made shape-morphing microrobots that looked like a fish . . . , crab . . . , or butterfly. Then, they placed the microrobots

    00:01:02 in a suspension of iron oxide nanoparticles to make them magnetic. The researchers used magnets and pH changes to make the microrobots perform different tasks. For example, the crab gripped a microparticle . . . , transported it . . . and released it. A fish-shaped microrobot had an adjustable “mouth” that opened and closed, allowing the team to load the fish’s mouth with a chemotherapy drug. They steered the fish through artificial blood vessels to reach cancer cells at a specific region of a petri dish. When they lowered the pH of the surrounding solution -- making it more acidic -- the fish opened its mouth to release a chemotherapy drug, shown here in red, which killed the cells closest to the fish. The researchers say, before the microrobots can be used for cancer treatment, they need to be made even smaller to navigate real blood vessels, and a suitable imaging

    00:01:59 method must be identified to track their movements in the body.