| Summary: |
MICROBOTS are mechanical or electromechanical devices (MEMS) whose components are at or close to the scale of micrometers. Among the wide range of applications, the most promising ones lie in the field of biomedicine since it is expected the microbots to be the perfect allays for doctors in the reparation of diseased cells, performing eye surgery, detecting cerebral aneurysms, delivering drugs in the right place without collateral damages or to remove blood clots after a stroke episode. Most of the potential microbots are bio-inspired swimming microdevices based on the propulsion mechanism of microorganisms like bacteria or spermatozoa, in fact, some recent works were focused in the study of the motion of these microbots according to the different natural techniques of these kind of microorganisms. Other works dealt with other robot capabilities, as the remote control or autonomy. However, the body shape and size play a very important role in the study of their flow through the main conduits of the human body. For that reason, it is essential to study the micro-hydrodynamics in depth, as it is commonly done with other vehicles
in macroscale (cars, planes or boats). Therefore, this project is aimed to optimize the morphology of microbots in order to achieve a most effective motion when they swim through different conducts of the human body taking into account the VISCOELASTIC properties of the BIOFLUIDS, which is the novelty of this work and constitutes an important innovation since no works related to this project have been carried out until date. The complex rheological behavior of the biofluids is crucial when the characteristic length scales are of the order of micrometers since the elastic effects are enhanced even at low Reynolds numbers. In this sense, in vitro experiments are fundamental for their relevance to in vivo applications of microbots in order to understand the flow field under
different flow conditions and also the repercussions on the channel  |
Summary
MICROBOTS are mechanical or electromechanical devices (MEMS) whose components are at or close to the scale of micrometers. Among the wide range of applications, the most promising ones lie in the field of biomedicine since it is expected the microbots to be the perfect allays for doctors in the reparation of diseased cells, performing eye surgery, detecting cerebral aneurysms, delivering drugs in the right place without collateral damages or to remove blood clots after a stroke episode. Most of the potential microbots are bio-inspired swimming microdevices based on the propulsion mechanism of microorganisms like bacteria or spermatozoa, in fact, some recent works were focused in the study of the motion of these microbots according to the different natural techniques of these kind of microorganisms. Other works dealt with other robot capabilities, as the remote control or autonomy. However, the body shape and size play a very important role in the study of their flow through the main conduits of the human body. For that reason, it is essential to study the micro-hydrodynamics in depth, as it is commonly done with other vehicles
in macroscale (cars, planes or boats). Therefore, this project is aimed to optimize the morphology of microbots in order to achieve a most effective motion when they swim through different conducts of the human body taking into account the VISCOELASTIC properties of the BIOFLUIDS, which is the novelty of this work and constitutes an important innovation since no works related to this project have been carried out until date. The complex rheological behavior of the biofluids is crucial when the characteristic length scales are of the order of micrometers since the elastic effects are enhanced even at low Reynolds numbers. In this sense, in vitro experiments are fundamental for their relevance to in vivo applications of microbots in order to understand the flow field under
different flow conditions and also the repercussions on the channel walls.
In this proposal, rheological experiments will be done to select and characterize different viscoelastic fluids able to mimic some kind of biofluids, such as blood; while microfluidic techniques will be used to study the influence of microbot's morphology on the flow dynamics of these analogues through different microchannels that mimic representative geometries of the human body under different flow conditions. The success of this proposal is guarantee by the experience of the team. In particular, the biofluids analogues to be used in this project are planned to be the blood analogues developed by the PI during her running postdoctoral fellowship funded by FCT (SFRH/BPD/69664/2010), which present also the suitable refractive index for their use in
polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) in vitro models. The accomplishment of this project will mean a step forward in several fronts: 1) applied research, providing a technique that can be very useful for the different research groups developing MEMS at present in Portugal, raising the country in the European ranking of this area of research; 2) fundamental science, by offering new insights into
complex flow behavior of the main biofluids of the human body; 3) technological development, by optimizing the morphology of microbots able to swim through the main conduits of the human body with important applications in biomedicine. |