Projektbeschreibung
Untersuchung des kollektiven Verhaltens von Enzym-Nanoroboter-Schwärmen
Inspiriert von Vogel- und Fischschwärmen konzentrieren sich Forschende im Bereich der Nanorobotik darauf, die gleiche Bewegungskomplexität zu erreichen und Schwarmverhalten in künstlichen Systemen umzusetzen. Bislang wurden künstliche Nanoroboter auf individueller Ebene erforscht. Die Studie darüber, wie Nanoroboter sich in biologisch relevanten Umgebungen selbst antreiben, navigieren und kommunizieren, hat jedoch nur wenig Beachtung gefunden. Um ihr kooperatives Verhalten zu untersuchen, wird das EU-finanzierte Projekt i-NANOSWARMS Enzym-getriebene Nanoroboter-Schwärme entwickeln, die sich mithilfe biokompatibler und -verfügbarer Kraftstoffe selbstständig fortbewegen können. Das Projekt wird einen Konzeptnachweis für die Relevanz intelligenter Nanoschwärme für biomedizinische Anwendungen, eine verbesserte Arzneimittelverabreichung und die medizinische Bildgebung bereitstellen.
Ziel
In nature, systems composed of self-propelling agents display complex behaviors such as signal interpretation, propagation, amplification and engage in collective motion mediated by interactions between different agents and their environment. Examples range from swarming bacteria to schooling fish and flocking birds. These self-organized systems have served as an inspiration for researchers seeking to achieve complexity in artificial systems composed of synthetic agents. A class of agents that has recently been demonstrated is of synthetic nanomachines (nanobots) that can self-propel thanks to the conversion of chemical energy, harvested from the environment, into motion. While most of the artificial nanobots have been explored at individual level, their collective emergent behavior, arising from inter-particle interactions through chemical and hydrodynamic fields, and through environment mediated interactions is yet to be properly studied. Understanding collective effects will be especially useful in biologically relevant environments, where a number of applications for these nanobot systems have been envisioned.
i-NANOSWARMS aims to realize enzyme-powered nanobot swarms capable to self-propel using biocompatible and bioavailable fuels and display collective and cooperative behaviours through communication among them as well as with the host environment. The proposal is divided in three working packages. In WP1, I will create a toolbox of nanobots based on a library of enzymes and nanoparticle architectures to study communication and long-range signal propagation using enzyme cascades. WP2 will be devoted to the collective behavior of nanobot swarms, exploiting biomimetic strategies such as chemotaxis and stigmergy to guide and recruit other nanobots. WP3 aims at studying, as a proof-of-concept of the applicability of intelligent nanoswarms for biomedical applications, cooperative behavior among nanoswarms for enhanced drug delivery and medical imaging.
Wissenschaftliches Gebiet
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologybacteriology
- engineering and technologynanotechnologynano-materials
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuels
- engineering and technologymedical engineeringdiagnostic imaging
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteinsenzymes
Schlüsselbegriffe
Programm/Programme
Thema/Themen
Finanzierungsplan
ERC-COG - Consolidator GrantGastgebende Einrichtung
08028 Barcelona
Spanien