Descrizione del progetto
Microrobot ispirati alle cellule
I microrobot presentano un potenziale notevole in termini di utilizzo nelle procedure mediche non invasive e nella somministrazione di farmaci. Tuttavia, le loro applicazioni sono ostacolate dalle funzionalità limitate e dal fatto che non riescono a muoversi agilmente nei fluidi e nei tessuti corporei. Per superare questi limiti, il progetto CELLOIDS, finanziato dall’UE, intende sviluppare microrobot innovativi che, sul modello delle cellule del sistema immunitario, saranno in grado di muoversi naturalmente attraverso i tessuti del corpo modificando la loro forma. Questi microrobot ispirati alle cellule, o «celloidi», conterranno particelle auto-propellenti grazie alle quali potranno navigare autonomamente in ambienti morbidi simili ai tessuti. Le applicazioni dei celloidi spazieranno dalla somministrazione mirata allo studio della migrazione delle cellule immunitarie e tumorali.
Obiettivo
Microscale robotic devices, or microrobots, could someday enable revolutionary non-invasive medical procedures. However, fundamental limitations still hinder the realisation of this vision. Current microrobots have very limited functionalities: they strongly rely on wireless operation by external fields, which impedes the execution of sophisticated movements and tasks. As a consequence, despite their intended medical use, microrobots cannot move effectively in bodily fluids and tissues. This project addresses exactly this challenge: realising self-contained microrobots that autonomously move in complex 3D biological environments (such as soft body tissues).
Our sources of inspiration are biological cells that naturally move through body tissues, such as immune cells. These cells move by continuously changing their shape, a strategy known as ‘amoeboid movement’. Such shape changes are powered by the self-organized flows and stresses of their intracellular filaments and motor proteins. Analogously, we will realise microrobots that each consist of a swarm of active particles: each microrobot will have a liquid body containing self-propelled particles and different sensitive particles; moreover, the particles swarm will be engineered to exhibit desired collective behaviours. These cell-inspired particle-based microrobots, or celloids, will spontaneously adapt their morphology, generate large body-shape changes, sense environmental cues and control signals, and autonomously navigate soft tissue-like environments.
This project will establish a radically new method to design microrobots, and will result in microrobots capable of autonomous navigation of body tissues. The celloids will also constitute a robophysical model for studying the migration of immune and cancer cells, and will enable a number of revolutionary medical procedures, including long-term monitoring and non-invasive interventions in delicate organs (e.g. brain).
Campo scientifico
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
ERC-STG - Starting GrantIstituzione ospitante
56127 Pisa
Italia