On May 8, a joint team from Hong Kong and Shenzhen successfully developed the world's first magnetically controlled blood hydrogel fiber robot.
On May 1, a research team composed of Professor Xu Tiantian of the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Associate Professor Wang Ben of Shenzhen University, and Professor Zhang Li of the Chinese University of Hong Kong published an article entitled Magnetically-driven biohybrid blood hydrogel fibers for personalized intracranial tumour therapy under fluoroscopic tracking in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering.
The study developed a 1 mm diameter bionic blood hydrogel fiber robot driven by an external programmable magnetic field. It can perform multimodal bionic movements in the extremely narrow cerebrospinal fluid environment of the subarachnoid space, and combined with X-ray imaging guidance, it can accurately and non-invasively reach the tumor area to complete targeted drug delivery, opening up a new path for accurate and non-invasive treatment of tumors deep in the brain and adjacent to functional areas.
The robot extracts fibrin from the patient's blood as raw material, and uses biomimetic gelation technology to construct a flexible robot that is highly matched with the brain's tissue structure, which helps significantly reduce the risk of immune rejection.
The team added magnetic particles inside the robot to enable it to perform a variety of biomimetic movement modes such as swinging, rolling, and crawling, and can move flexibly in complex brain areas such as the subarachnoid space. Combined with X-ray imaging technology, the treatment process can be tracked and accurately positioned in real time.