Microscopic cell balls that swim around with the help of cilia may become the future way to heal damaged tissue inside the body.
American researchers at Tufts University in Massachusetts have succeeded in creating “biological robots”, dubbed Anthrobots, using tissue from human lung cells which in tests helped speed up healing, Vetenskapsradion reports.
Behind the test is Michael Levin, who is an American developmental biologist and synthetic biologist at Tufts University.
In the test, cells from lungs grew into tiny microscopic balls of cells that moved around using the cilia normally used in the lungs to catch debris and dust in the airways. The cilia formed around the outside of the cell ball and became effective “swimming feet” for the biological mini-robot to move.
The researchers then took another cell colony created from nerve cells and made a cut in the colony to simulate an injury. A bio-robot was placed in the slit and after three days the nerve cells had grown together where the bio-robot was placed and the researchers believe that it is the one that promoted the regrowth of the nerve cells.
Now it is hoped that in the future the discovery can be used to find and heal injuries in the body or to clear away refatting in blood vessels.