Researchers at École Polytechnique de Montréal have devised a method whereas bacteria coupled to magnetic carriers were 3D navigated by external forces induced by magnetic gradients in an upgraded clinical MRI system. The technology, coming from the university’s Nanorobotique Lab, aims to develop direct delivery “magnetic particles acting as potential carriers for researchers to test and to deliver a variety of therapeutic agents directly into the tumor mass through the use of a clinical MRI system upgraded through additional dedicated software and hardware modules,” according to the lab’s wiki.
More from MIT Technology Review:
To do this, Martel [Sylvain Martel, professor of computer engineering –ed.] used bacteria that naturally contain magnetic particles. In nature, these particles help the bacteria navigate toward deeper water, away from oxygen. “Those nanoparticles form a chain a bit like a magnetic compass needle,” says Martel . But by changing the surrounding magnetic field using an extended set-up coupled to an MRI machine, Martel and his colleagues were able to make the bacteria propel themselves in any direction they wanted.
The bacteria swim using tiny corkscrewlike tails, or flagella, and these particular bacteria are faster and stronger than most, says Martel. What’s more, they are just two microns in diameter–small enough to fit through the smallest blood vessels in the human body. The team treated the polymer beads roughly 150 nanometers in size with antibodies so that the bacteria would attach to them. Ultimately, the researchers plan to modify the beads so that they also carry cancer-killing drugs.
Link to a video of MRI guided bacteria swimming through blood…
More from MIT Tech Review…
Research – Laboratoire de nanorobotique…
Image: Researchers plot a trajectory for their bacteria-powered microrobots, which are guided using an MRI machine.