![Home](https://nanopartikel.info/wp-content/themes/dana/images/home.png)
When we, the DaNa team as operators of the website nanopartikel.info, write about nanobots, i.e. nanometre-sized machines, we point out that these machines belong to science fiction, may even remain a utopia – i.e. never realisable. On the significantly larger micro-scale, however, small machines are conceivable that could help in the therapy of diseases, e.g. cancer. Such an approach is now presented by S. Schürle from ETH Zurich, who is developing magnetically controllable microrobots. She is using naturally occurring bacteria that have a magnetic “core” and with the help of which they can be steered to the target as microrobots.
This approach is not entirely new in terms of the basic idea, but it is significantly improved by the Zurich working group because rotating magnetic fields are used to make the bacteria rotate. The impression is that the microrobots now work like micro-drilling machines and drill their way non-destructively between cells to get from blood vessels through the blood vessel wall to tumour cells. You can read about the results she has achieved and the new approaches S. Schürle is exploring on the ETH Zurich website and in the original publication cited there (Gwisai T, Mirkhani N, Christiansen MG, Nguyen TT, Ling V, Schuerle S: Magnetic torque-driven living microrobots for increased tumour infiltration, Science Robotics 26 October 2022, doi: https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.abo0665)
![Spotlight December 2022: Fighting tumors with micro robots](https://nanopartikel.info/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Woman-during-Tomography_LIGHTFIELD-STUDIOS-adobestock-480x650.jpg)
Weitere Spotlights
Spotlight July 2022: New definition on nanomaterials published
The European Union has published a new definition for nanomaterials as of June 2022. It is recommended that this be used as a basis for future legislation. The new documents can be found on the EC website. In the new “nanodefinition”, the essential components such as the origin or the size range of the particles […]
Read moreSpotlight November 2021: Safe Materials from Scratch – Safe-by-Design in Materials Research
Advances in the field of materials science continue to amaze us with nanoscale materials with extraordinary chemical, electrical, optical, and numerous other properties. However, some nanoscale materials have different toxicological profiles compared to the same bulk material. Since safety issues are usually addressed just before launching a product into the market, safety issues may be […]
Read moreSpotlight September 2023: Fishing for raw materials with proteins
The so-called rare earth elements such as neodymium, dysprosium or cerium are elements that are of great importance for the energy transition; among others they serve as components of magnets in generators for electric power generation, act as luminescent materials in energy-saving lamps or as part of the car exhaust catalytic converter. The global production […]
Read moreSpotlight April 2021: Nanomaterials and Fake News – a commentary based on an example
In February 2021, the article “The invisible killer lurking in our consumer products” appeared, describing nanoparticles as a greater danger than Corona [1]. “The use of nanomaterials” would be “unregulated” and “nanomaterials are so small that they cannot be determined once they are part of a product”. So what is the truth of these statements? […]
Read more