Cyborg-sperm

Man-made biorobots will start floating on the liquid

ChemPort.Ru based on University of Illinois: Tiny swimming bio-bots boldly go where no bot has swum beforeThe already diverse world of microscopic water inhabitants has been replenished with new members – synthetic self-propelled floating biorobots.

A group of researchers led by Taher Saif from the University of Illinois has developed a new type of tiny biohybrid machines that can move like sperm cells. The results of the work of engineers from Illinois represent the first synthetic structures that can independently pass through biological fluids with sufficient viscosity.

As Saif notes, microorganisms represent a whole world that up to a certain point we could only study with a microscope, and for the first time a man-made system was able to reach this "lower world".

Biorobots were created in the image and likeness of unicellular creatures with long tails – flagella. An example of such a representative of the microcosm can be, for example, a sperm cell. The researchers began their work by manufacturing the body of a micro robot from a flexible polymer material, after which heart muscle cells were cultured in the area of the junction of the head and tail of this polymer frame. These cells self-organized in such a way that their mutual arrangement and joint contraction contributed to the undulating movements of the tail, which set the biorobot in motion.

As Saif notes, the self-organization of cells is a unique and spontaneous phenomenon, and how the interaction of cells located on the flexible tail of the polymer occurs is still unclear and requires further research; nevertheless, in order for the biorobot to move in the right direction, synchronous contraction of all cells is necessary. As Saif notes, the system requires only minimal intervention by engineers – they produce only polymer head and tail, and cells already give functionality to biorobots.

The researchers also managed to develop biorobots with two tails, the speed of movement of such systems was even greater, and the presence of several tails simplifies the control of the movement of the biorobot in the right direction. The researchers suggest that in the future it will be possible to design biorobots that can move under the influence of chemical exposure or light, which will allow controlling the movement of such systems during medical research or when studying environmental objects.

In the longer term, the use of hybrid biorobots made of plastic and living cells for the delivery of differentiating stem cells or antitumor drugs.

Article by Williams et al. A self-propelled biohybrid swimmer at low Reynolds number is published in the journal Nature Communications.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru22.01.2014