New tiny living robots may have 'healing powers' for humans, according to recent study
Scientists have created microscopic living robots that may be able to help heal the very things they’re made from: human cells.
The creation, which was named Anthrobots, was made by a team at Tufts University and Harvard University’s Wyss Institute who published their research Thursday in the journal Advanced Science. The robots’ ability to move across a surface and encourage the growth of neurons in a lab dish is “a starting point for the researchers’ vision to use Anthrobots as new therapeutic tools for regeneration, healing, and treatment of disease,” a statement from the Wyss Institute said.
“The discovery is a starting point for the researchers’ vision to use Anthrobots as new therapeutic tools for regeneration, healing, and treatment of disease.”
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Multicellular assemblies of the tiny biological robots, ranging in size from the width of a human hair to the point of a sharpened pencil, were made from adult human tracheal (or windpipe) cells. They are designed to carry out tasks depending on the functions of their individual cells and how they work together.
According to Tufts University, some advantages of using human cells include the ability to construct bots from a patient’s own cells to perform therapeutic work without the risk of triggering an immune response or requiring immunosuppressants.
The research builds on earlier work published in 2021 by scientists who "created multicellular biological robots from frog embryo cells called Xenobots, capable of navigating passageways, collecting material, recording information, healing themselves from injury, and even replicating for a few cycles on their own.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: New tools for regeneration and healing found in tiny living robots
