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Chemically powered micro- and nanomotors: From single particle to swarming behaviour

By: Samuel Sanchez
From: Institute of Bioengineering of Catalonia, Spain
At: Online - Zoom (https://videoconf-colibri.zoom.us/j/88442660667)
[2021-03-18] 10

(Bio)Engineering out of the equilibrium systems which resemble living microswimmers is not atrivial task. Chemists have made use of catalysis to generate enough force at the nanoscale toachieve that goal and self-propel nano- and micro-particles as “nanobots”. Over the last fewyears, we have studied the motion of Pt-Silica “Janus microbots” as a model system of artificialactive matter. We achieved motion control, transport in microfluidic devices and also guidance -single and collective- using small microfabricated features thanks to the interaction of themicroparticles with nearby walls.With the goal of developing small vehicles that can eventually be applied in nanomedicine,alternative fuel-particle systems need to be developed. An elegant way to replicate biologicalswimmers is to use enzymes as bio-catalysts as they are abundant in nature, consume bio-available fuels, are biocompatible and in some cases, highly efficient.In my talk, I will present how we bioengineer hybrid nanobots combining the best from the twoworlds: biology (enzymes) and (nano)technology (nano- micro-particles) providing swimmingcapabilities, biocompatibility, remote control, multifunctionality and actuation. I will presentsome of the proof-of-concept applications such as the efficient transport of drugs into cancer cellsand spheroids, sensing capabilities and the use of molecular imaging techniques for their trackingand localization both in vitro and in vivo in confined spaces like mice bladder.