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Micro-Swimmers

11th April, 2022

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Context

  • Micro-swimmers’ may soon help with drug delivery- Studies.

 

Background

  • Scientists are exploring ways to deliver medicine to specific targets in the body by using microrobots that swim through the bloodstream.
  • Last year, a team of researchers at Cornell University has developed a type of "micro-swimmer" that's powered by ultrasound waves. Swarms of these minuscule bots could someday be coursing through patients' bodies, delivering small but effective doses of medicine to specific sites.

 

Microbots

  • Made from the two-dimensional compound poly (heptazine imide) carbon nitride (aka PHI carbon nitride), microbots are like the miniaturised humans.
  • The idea is that swarms of tiny bots may someday swim through the human body and take medicines directly to their target.
  • This would enable people to take smaller but more effective doses of medicine, ideally leading to fewer side effects and toxicities because the medicine wouldn’t have to travel through the entire bloodstream to reach its intended destination.

 

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/micro-swimmers-may-soon-help-with-drug-delivery/article65303264.ece