Abstract
Microswimmers are a rapidly developing research area attracting enormous attention because of their many potential applications with high societal value. A particularly promising target for cleverly engineered microswimmers is the field of biomedical applications, where many interesting examples have already been reported for e.g., cargo transport and drug delivery, artificial insemination, sensing, indirect manipulation of cells and other microscopic objects, imaging, and microsurgery. Pioneered only two decades ago, research studies on the use of microswimmers in biomedical applications are currently progressing at an incredibly fast pace. Given the recent nature of the research, there are currently no clinically approved microswimmer uses, and it is likely that several years will yet pass before any clinical uses can become a reality. Nevertheless, current research is laying the foundation for clinical translation, as more and more studies explore various strategies for developing biocompatible and biodegradable microswimmers fueled by in vivo-friendly means. The aim of this review is to provide a summary of the reported biomedical applications of microswimmers, with focus on the most recent advances. Finally, the main considerations and challenges for clinical translation and commercialization are discussed.
Highlights
Microswimmers, which are microscopic objects with the ability to move in liquid environments, were pioneered in the beginning of the third millennium
A promising target for cleverly engineered microswimmers is the field of biomedical applications, where many interesting examples have already been reported for e.g., cargo transport and drug delivery, artificial insemination, sensing, indirect manipulation of cells and other microscopic objects, imaging, and microsurgery
Local flow sensing followed by semi-automatic algorithms that compensate for flow changes can help adjust the microswimmer control and optimize its movement, which is an important step toward user-friendly applications, or for microswimmer navigation in blood vessels
Summary
Microswimmers, which are microscopic objects with the ability to move in liquid environments, were pioneered in the beginning of the third millennium. In addition to the use of magnetic forces, actuation of bioinspired microswimmers was demonstrated using e.g., acoustic excitation [38] or optical forces [39] Another interesting nature-inspired behavior related to optical forces is that of phototaxis, which can be exploited by e.g., cargo-carrying microroganisms [40], synthetic microswimmers [41,42,43] or biohybrid microswimmers [44]. Koleoso et al discuss the use of magnetic small scale robots for biomedical applications and provide details about the various magnetic fields and actuation systems developed for such purposes [31]. Unique examples, or other review papers are mentioned briefly, this paper expands on interesting examples of microswimmers for biomedical applications reported in the last two years
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