Grain-sized soft robots developed for drug delivery

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A team of scientists at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed grain-sized soft robots that can be controlled using magnetic fields for targeted drug delivery, paving the way for potentially improved therapies in the future.

The new soft robot, developed by engineers from NTU's School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE), was reported in a paper published in the journal Advanced Materials. The study is believed to be the first reported case of miniature robots capable of transporting up to four different medications and releasing them in reprogrammable sequences and dosages.

Compared to previous small robots that can only carry up to three types of medications and cannot be programmed to release them in the correct order, the newly developed miniature robots offer precision features that have the potential to significantly improve therapy outcomes while reducing side effects minimize, said the research team.

The NTU team had previously developed magnetically controlled miniature robots capable of complex maneuvers such as “swimming” through tight spaces and grasping tiny objects. Building on their previous work, lead researcher Assistant Professor Lum Guo Zhan from the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) said the team was inspired by the 1960s film “Fantastic Voyage,” in which a submarine crew A cell was shrunk to size to repair damage to an injured scientist's brain.

“What was a scenario in a science fiction movie is now becoming closer to reality through our lab’s innovation. “Traditional methods of drug delivery such as oral administration and injections appear comparatively inefficient when compared to sending a tiny robot through the body to deliver the drug exactly where it is needed,” said Asst Prof Lum.

Extremely clever and reprogrammable medication delivery features

The grain-sized robot was made of smart magnetic composite materials (magnetic microparticles and polymer) that are non-toxic to humans. Unlike existing miniature robots that cannot precisely control their orientation, the newly developed soft robot is extremely dexterous – it rolls and crawls quickly to overcome obstacles.

Its dexterity offers great potential for navigating complex, unstructured environments within the human body. In laboratory experiments, the robot performed tasks in water that mimicked the conditions in the human body. The robot was initially placed on a surface divided into four sections and managed to move to each section at speeds between 0.30 mm and 16.5 mm per second and release a different drug in each section, improving its ability Proof that carrying and transporting multiple medications could be programmable for their controlled release.

In another experiment, researchers tested the robot's ability to deliver medication in more difficult environments with a thicker liquid. The results showed that the robot was able to navigate the environment and release sufficient medication over a period of eight hours. Additionally, the robot exhibited minimal drug leakage after eight hours of continuous movement. This ability to control drug release without excessive leakage makes the soft robot a good candidate for treatments that require precise administration of multiple medications at different times and locations.

The study's co-authors included research associate Yang Zilin and graduate student Xu Changyu from the School of MAE. “These results show that our soft robot could potentially play a key role in the future of targeted drug delivery, especially for treatments such as cancer therapies that require precise control over multiple drugs,” Yang said.

Yeo Leong Litt Leonard, senior consultant and surgeon in the Department of Neurology, Department of Medicine, National University Hospital and Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, provided an independent perspective: “As a doctor who performs minimally invasive procedures, we currently use a catheter and a Wire passed through blood vessels to treat problems. But I imagine it won't be long before this is replaced by tiny robots that can swim autonomously through the body to reach places we can't reach with our tools. These robots could stay in place and deliver medication over time, which would be much safer than leaving a catheter or stent in the body for long periods of time. This is a medical breakthrough that is imminent.”

The NTU research team now wants to make its robots even smaller so that they can eventually be used for revolutionary treatments for diseases such as brain tumors, bladder cancer and colon cancer. Before these tiny robots are used for such medical treatments, NTU researchers want to further evaluate their performance using organ-on-chip devices and animal models.

Reference: Yang Z, Xu C, Lee JX, Lum GZ. Miniature magnetic soft robot with reprogrammable drug delivery capabilities: Towards advanced targeted combination therapy. Adv Mater. 2024:2408750. doi: 10.1002/adma.202408750

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