Recently, the National Key Laboratory of Robotics Technology and System of Harbin Institute of Technology and the First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University jointly developed a medical micro-nano robot that imitates tardigrades, which can realize controllable movement and targeted parking in the high-speed flow environment of venous blood, effectively solving the problem that micro-nano robots cannot be applied in medicine.
【During the same period】Professor Wu Zhiguang, School of Medicine and Health, Harbin Institute of Technology
If we compare blood vessels to a large river, the location of our patients may be a small stone or a reef, and our drug molecule is equivalent to a small leaf in the river, and the proportion of this leaf that can flow to the reef is originally very low, which is a difficult point of drugs all along. Then we want to transform this molecular biology method into a physical method, suppose that the patient has a disease, that is, I don't care what disease you have, for me just to get to that position, I through a physical method, can I through the method of outer edge control, let it run to the patient's position is not to get, from a physical point of view to try to solve medical problems, this is the current idea of our medical intersection.
According to statistics, in the past three decades, the proportion of drugs that can be accurately delivered to the lesion location is only 0.7%, and the delivery efficiency is very low.
【During the same period】Professor Li Tianlong, School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology
In view of the problems in our current field, we want to see if we can achieve the effective movement of micro-nano robots along the blood vessel wall through the idea of bionics, through the structure of this water-like bear, and then here it can not only go down the river, it can also go upstream, but also cross the blood flow, through the combination of several movements, our micro-nano robots can finally effectively reach the lesion area and achieve the targeted release of drugs. Based on the idea of bionic design of micro-nano robot, we inject the micro-nano robot into the small animal through IVOCT, and then we can realize the movement of the micro-nano robot here through magnetic field regulation, this movement is equivalent to the bionic idea of the imitation of the tardigrade design of the micro-nano robot, when the movement to a specific area, we can realize the parking of the micro-nano robot on the surface by regulating the magnetic field, and release drugs for targeted treatment of the lesion area.
【Commentary】The "claw" imitating the design of tardigrades improves the driving efficiency of micro-nano robots, allowing robots with a diameter of 20 microns to move efficiently in a venous blood flow environment of 20000,36 microns/s; Through the multi-magnetic field composite control technology, the controlled stopping and targeted release of drugs on the surface of biological tissues of micro-nano robots are realized, and the residence time is greater than <> hours.
【During the same period】Professor Li Tianlong, School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology
Our micro-nano robot structure, it is a spiny structure, each thorn is equivalent to a paw of the tardigrade, and we are difficult to achieve a few micron arms at the micro-nano scale, so we make it into a spiny structure that the entire sphere is spiny, and we simulate it through field regulation This tardigrade claw keeps grasping the movement, in fact, let the ball roll, through the contact between multiple thorns and the surface, to achieve effective movement. In this way, through the field and the design of this structure, the two ways are combined to simulate the movement of the tardigrade's paws to grasp the ground.
Professor Wu Zhiguang introduced to reporters that the current micro-nano robots are mainly composed of artificial substances, and after entering the human body, they will be identified as foreign substances by the immune system and actively "attacked".
【During the same period】Professor Wu Zhiguang, School of Medicine and Health, Harbin Institute of Technology
We consider the natural red blood cell, it has its own set of biological proteins, it will not be attacked by the immune system, this is because of a layer of membrane protein on its surface, with a set of biological "ID cards" equivalent to its own, then we are inspired by this, the natural red blood cells are modified to the surface of the micro-nano robot, and then it can avoid the attack of the immune system by disguising itself as a natural red blood cell, thereby extending the working life of this swimming micro-nano robot in the blood or other biological environments. Let it better complete its biomedical tasks.
【Commentary】The research and development of medical micro-nano robots imitating tardigrade insects has realized the driving and stopping of micro-nano robots in veins for the first time, and the technology has reached the international leading level, significantly improving the efficiency of drug targeted delivery and providing new ideas for the precise treatment of malignant tumors.
Reporting by Wang Ning, Liu Lu, Sun Hanlun, Harbin, Heilongjiang
Responsible Editor: [Luo Pan]