Germany develops 3D printed micro-robots for cancer treatment

OFweekRobotA few days ago, a Dresden professor at the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials in Germany is using the German company Nanoscribe’s3D printingTechnology to develop micro-Robots. This robot can act on the human body to fight cancer. This Robotic therapy is less invasive than chemotherapy and can be performed on-site by a doctor.

The German company Nanoscribe is a world leader in “nano-manufacturing”, which is currently mainly used in medical applications due to its ability to print tiny structures.

Nanoscribe is a Karlsruhe Institute of Technology initiative that started in 2007. The company has developed 3D printing technology that can create microscopic, precise prints.

Amazingly, these prints can be 250 times taller than a human hair. With such characteristics, the use of technology is very wide. For example, it could have many medical applications, such as treating cancer patients or developing sperm robots.

Oliver Schmidt, a professor at the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials (IFW) Dresden, is using the technology to develop microrobots for use in the human body. His idea is for tiny robots to capture individual sperm and move them directly into the egg cell. He explained:

“There are men whose sperm doesn’t move but is still healthy. We want to artificially nudge them to their final destination.”

To do this, Schmidt uses magnetic fields to control the microrobots. And it will not cause harm to the body.

Nanoscribe’s 3D printer creates tiny robots because the technology is capable of printing at a diameter of just 200 nanometers. However, Schmidt thinks there is a long way to go in how good microrobots can be used to catalyze eggs, and he thinks he can use sperm cells in a novel way.

Namely, anti-cancer. The reason for this is that sperm can penetrate the cell wall. He added: “Sperm can be assembled with chemotherapeutic drugs … and then delivered directly to cancer cells.”

The advantage of this is that it is less traumatic for the patient than chemotherapy and can be performed on-site by a doctor. Beyond that, Nanoscribe is already being used in the medical community. Nanoscribe’s Andreas Frölich explained:

“Customers who use our printers attach lenses to extremely thin endoscopes. And print tiny forceps on the tip of the wire. This allows monitoring of the procedure inside the blood vessel and possibly removal of blood clots there.”