Magnetically controlled microrobots for stem cell delivery and treatment of vascular diseases

Abstract

Medical microrobots have various possibilities for biomedical applications including stem cell therapy, treatment of vascular diseases, drug delivery, etc. In this presentation, various magnetically controlled microrobots are introduced for precise control by external magnetic fields to achieve their specific goals. First, untethered microrobots will be discussed for targetted stem cell delivery, hyperthermia, and drug delivery in vivo and in vitro. These microrobots demonstrated various driving mechanisms in the small world with precise locomotion. Second, magnetically actuated guidewire- microrobots with wireless magnetic manipulation are also presented for the treatment of vascular interventions in phantoms and animals. These tethered robots are in mm scale and will be used with a medical imaging system for precise locomotion and registration.