Futuristic Therapy: Steering Microrobots Through Blood Vessels For Disease Treatment

From the 20 December 2011 Space Daily article

Microscopic-scale medical robots represent a promising new type of therapeutic technology. As envisioned, the microbots, which are less than one millimeter in size, might someday be able totravel throughout the human bloodstream to deliver drugs to specific targets or seek out and destroy tumors, blood clots, and infections that can’t be easily accessed in other ways.

One challenge in the deployment of microbots, however, is developing a system to accurately “drive” them and maneuver them through the complex and convoluted circulatory system, to a chosen destination….

…Article: “Magnetic Navigation Systems for the Precise Helical and Translational Motions of a Microrobot in Human Blood Vessels” is part of the Proceedings of the 56th Annual Conference on Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, to be published in the Journal of Applied Physics in April. Authors: Seungmun Jeon, Gunhee Jang, Hyunchul Choi, Sukho Park, and Jongoh Park.

 

Related articles

• New system may one day steer microrobots through blood vessels for disease treatment (eurekalert.org)
• Microrobots may be drug-delivery systems of future (fiercebiotechresearch.com)
• Scientists create water walking bionic microrobot -Via Gizmag (overview-effect.com)
• ‘Fantastic Voyage’ Through the Body, With Precision Control (InnovationToronto.com)
• Microrobots to embark on ‘Fantastic Voyage’ through the body (zdnet.com)
• Polymer-Powered Microbots Could Repair Blood Vessels (medgadget.com)
• Capsule Endoscope Controlled By MRI To Investigate Digestive System – A “Fantastic Voyage” (medicalnewstoday.com)

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