Title :
Flagellated bacterial nanorobots for medical interventions in the human body
Author :
Martel, Sylvain ; Felfoul, Ouajdi ; Mohammadi, Mahmood
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Comput. & Software Eng., Ecole Polytech. de Montreal (EPM), Montreal, QC
Abstract :
We show that a combination of various types of nanorobots will prove to be more important as we attend to enhance targeting in the smallest blood vessels found in the human microvasculature. As such, various interdependent concepts for the implementation of these different types of medical bio-nanorobots including nanorobots propelled in the microvasculature by flagellated bacteria to target deep regions in the human body are presented. Through experimental results and theoretical formulations, we also showed the advantages of integrating biological components and more specifically Magnetotactic Bacteria (MTB) for the development of hybrid (made of synthetic and biological components) nanorobots adapted to operate in the human microvasculature. We also show a method capable to track using MRI as imaging modality, steerable microbeads and MTB that could be integrated in the implementation of future sophisticated bio-nanorobots operating inside the complex vascular network. As such, we show that these nanorobots including the ones propelled by a single flagellated bacterium could be guided or controlled directly towards specific locations deep inside the human body. We also show experimentally that flagellated bacterial nanorobots could be propelled and steered in vivo through the interstitial region of a tumor for enhanced therapeutic results.
Keywords :
blood vessels; cellular biophysics; medical robotics; microorganisms; nanobiotechnology; tumours; blood vessels; complex vascular network; flagellated bacteria; human body; human microvasculature; magnetotactic bacteria; medical bio-nanorobots; steerable microbeads; tumor interstitial region; Biomedical engineering; Biomedical imaging; Humans; Medical diagnostic imaging; Medical robotics; Microorganisms; Nanobioscience; Propulsion; Resumes; Space technology;
Conference_Titel :
Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics, 2008. BioRob 2008. 2nd IEEE RAS & EMBS International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Scottsdale, AZ
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-2882-3
Electronic_ISBN :
978-1-4244-2883-0
DOI :
10.1109/BIOROB.2008.4762777