Editorial

‘Army Of Swimming Microbots’ Eradicates Pneumonia In Mice In Insane Study

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Kay Smythe News and Commentary Writer
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A so-called “army of swimming microbots” successfully eradicated pneumonia in mice, according to a study published in September.

Researchers created the hybrid microscopic robots (microrobots) in order to deliver antibiotics into the lungs of live mice, effectively reducing the bacterial burden from acute bacterial pneumonia, according to the study’s abstract published in the “Nature Materials” journal. The bots are made from living microalgae covered in tiny antibiotic-loaded nanoparticles and poured down the windpipes of mice, LiveScience reported.

Two dozen mice took part in the study and were infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacteria that causes a potentially fatal form of pneumonia found in a number of different species, including humans, LiveScience continued. Half were given the microbots, all making a full recovery within a week with nominal toxicity, but the other, untreated half died within three days of infection, the outlet noted.

Nanoengineers at the University of California-Davis created the microbots used in the study, with the results producing hope the study could one day be conducted on humans, according to Futurism. After the bots are done delivering the medicine to the infected lung tissue, they degrade naturally within the body in an apparently safe way, the outlet noted. (RELATED: STUDY: Newly Identified Microbes Frozen In Tibetan Ice Could Create Nearly 1,000 Pandemics If Released)

“Our goal is to do targeted drug delivery into more challenging parts of the body, like the lungs,” Liangfang Zhang, nanoengineering professor at UC San Diego and one of the authors of the study, said in a press release from the university. “And we want to do it in a way that is safe, easy, biocompatible and long lasting. That is what we’ve demonstrated in this work.”

The research is still in the proof-of-concept stage, with the team planning to dig further into how the microbots interact with the human immune system, the release noted. The team will continue to scale up their research until they are in a position to eventually test on larger animals and humans.