Bio-bots!!!
Scientists of the University of Illinois have created Bio-bots--a chimera of biological material and engineered, synthetic components. About a year ago or so, they created a 7-mm tall walking bio-bot. They have posted a youtube video of it online...it is SO cool looking.
The biological component of the bio-bot is comprised of cardiac cells. These cells, at first, are not synchronous; however, they become so in order to propel the bio-bot forward.
Now, this lab has used this technology to create swimming bio-bots. These bio-bots contain a polymer body with attached cardiac cells. They resemble sperm and use a wave function to mimic flagellar motion. The hyperlink below will take you to an article about these new "swimmers" along with another video demonstrating the flagellar motion.
Scientists create synthetic self-propelled swimming bio-bots
Don't worry...these are not quite to the cyborg stage...yet! So, John Connor is safe for now! Ha!
The biological component of the bio-bot is comprised of cardiac cells. These cells, at first, are not synchronous; however, they become so in order to propel the bio-bot forward.
Now, this lab has used this technology to create swimming bio-bots. These bio-bots contain a polymer body with attached cardiac cells. They resemble sperm and use a wave function to mimic flagellar motion. The hyperlink below will take you to an article about these new "swimmers" along with another video demonstrating the flagellar motion.
Scientists create synthetic self-propelled swimming bio-bots
Don't worry...these are not quite to the cyborg stage...yet! So, John Connor is safe for now! Ha!
It is incredible how intelligent the body can be. Even these simple cells can work in harmony to propel the bio-bot forward. What amazes me is that even the engineers still don’t fully understand how the cardiac cells do this, and they are the ones who “built” it! The scientists put it together but it functions on its own. It is amazing how this works and what the future applications could be. I found the idea of using these for minimally invasive surgery extremely interesting. I cannot even begin to image the types of things they could potentially do with such simple materials, but it is obvious that scientists have high hopes for these bio-bots. I would be concerned, though, with using biological materials in the body because of the defense mechanisms we have against unwanted/unfamiliar antigens. Theoretically, we could use the 3-D printer to make bio-bots from our own tissue/stem-cells, but I wonder how it would truly look in vitro.
ReplyDeleteThese engineer used quite an ingenious method for developing these bio-bots. These bio-bots use the natural synchronization and contraction of heart cells to propel themselves forward. The true ingenious of this technique is that heart calls can naturally be sustained in the body. This negates the need for an external power source such as a battery to provide motion. The potential for these bio-bots is extraordinary. I was curious as to how these bio-bots would be inserted into the organism and extracted out once its job was complete. Additionally, I wonder how the immune system react to a “foreign invader” like these bio-bots. Nevertheless, the potential benefits of these bio-bots is a tremendous incentive to find and fix any technical difficulties that the researchers come across in vivo. I am extremely excited to see further advances in this field of biotechnology.
ReplyDeleteI find nanotechnology fascinating! In his lecture titled, "Small Wonders:The World of Nanoscience," Nobel Prize winner Dr. Horst Störmer said that the nanoscale is more interesting than the atomic scale because the nanoscale is the first point where we can assemble something useful. But as with any new innovation in science, we must revisit Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Nanotechnology in medicine makes it possible for us to enhance the human race physically, but is that ethical? In theory, these biobots could be used for the dire needs of cancer treatment and drug delivery. Eventually nanotechnology could make us smarter, stronger, and give us other X-Men abilities like rapid healing or night vision. Does the good outweigh the bad? Will we go down the path of transhuman evolution?
ReplyDeleteWe all know that it will be the wealthy who determine the outcome of this because they are the only ones who can afford such procedures. Hollywood has been warning us lately of the dangers of this technology (see The Terminator, The Matrix, and Elysium) so we better recognize the implications now, before it becomes too late.
Of course, I would love to hear Arnold's thoughts on this:
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Once again I am amazed at how technology continues to progress and everyday new works are introduced into the possiblities of medical treatments. These bio-bots are incredible! The fact that the beating of cadiac cells; taken from a rat, finction to propel the biobot forward is beyond conprehensible. If this same technology can be replicated with a humans camdiac tissue so that the body can identify it as "self" I can really see this being extremely helpful in targeting cancerous cells in a person.
ReplyDeleteWow, these emerging technologies are incredible! They represent the perfect fusion of human engineering and biological materials. It's so exciting to see what a bit of creativity (and scientific prowess) is able to do. These innovations are unique because they blend human capability with naturally-occurring structures to provide the best outcome. One of the most interesting things about bio-bots is their self-sustainability if provided the appropriate environment and nutrient supply. Nanotechnology will need to become increasingly regulated in the near future, just as stem cell researching has experienced governmental restrictions in the past couple years. I'm excited to see how nanotechnology will fuel our scientific capabilities on into the future! I'm curious to see how these new creations will contribute to disease prevention (especially in precancerous patients) and how they will contribute to the imminent breakdown of Moore's Law.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness! This is crazy and amazing! It's so cool to see how technology is improving as time goes on but it's also kind of scary how technology is improving as time goes on. I think it's amazing that engineers are able to assemble something functional by mixing biological and engineered components. I am very excited to see the future of these biobots and see what they are used for and how they can help future generations.
ReplyDeleteThis is truly incredible. Mimicking the flagellum model, to create a mobile bio-bot could be used like they said, to drug deliver and cancer treatment. My only fear is that the bot may need to be directly placed near the location of interest as the diagrams proposed only a linear movement. If these bots could in fact reach a targeted area in a quick fashion, then cancer cells could be rapidly destroyed through stem cells with minimally invasive treatments. Chemotherapy could be made a prehistoric method while new treatments could allow patients to live longer and fuller lives. It would be interesting to see how this technology could be improved upon and used for future medical treatments.
ReplyDeleteThis is spectacular. Even if these bio-bots had no potential use in the medical field, the technology itself is so impressive. I mean, using cardiac cells to power a tiny polymer suit - that's incredible!
ReplyDeleteAt first, I wasn't totally sure how the medical implications given in the article would actually be achieved. (I mean, bio-bot is a cute name, but how was it going to cure cancer?) So I went back to the article published about the walking bio-bots, and these scientists definitely have me convinced on the feasibility of bio-bots as functional little workers.
If these bio-bots can be taught to move toward chemical gradients, there are a lot of potential applications. The only disadvantage I can think of, is that their size greatly affects how quickly they could move. Regardless, in a small system bio-bots would have many potential applications.
Wow!!! Time and time again, scientists never fail to amaze me with their ingenuity. I agree with everyone else that the bio-bots have the potential to be significant in the precise treatments of cancers and other complex diseases. What fascinates me most, however, is the fact that these cardiac cells are able to independently synchronize their contractions in order to move the bio-bots. How could a couple of cells outside the body they were made for know how to contract in-sync and achieve such a feat? Well, even the wise scientists who invented these little workers have no idea how they actually work, so who am I to know the secret behind the bio-bots? One thing I do know, however, is that when God designs something, He always does it right. He made the cardiac cells with enough perfection for them to function in this way, and His ingenuity and wisdom confound me a thousand times more than the scientists do.
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