Magnetic Micro-Robots in Medicine
Collaborating Chinese and British scientists have developed magnetic micro-robots from spirulina algae with a magnetic coating, and delivered them to hard to reach locations in laboratory rats. Quoting directly, “Microalgae were functionalized as magnetic bots with a magnetite dip-coating process. A swarm of these devices, measuring only a few millionths of a meter long, were guided magnetically to sites in the stomachs of rats. By using magnetic resonance imaging, the algae’s natural fluorescence enabled tracking of the microbots in tissue close to the skin’s surface, as well as in hard-to-reach deeper tissue.” Further, these “devices” showed selective cytotoxicity for cancer cells depending on the thickness of the magnetite coating. MORE
Image Credit: Yan et al Science Robotics 2017 and Insights.globalspec.com