Development of Magnetically Driven Microrobots for Targeted Cell Delivery, and Their Characterization in in Vitro, Ex Vivo and in Vivo Environments

Here, we propose magnetically driven microrobots for targeted cell delivery that can efficiently swim in various physiological environments. The three-dimensional (3D) microrobots were sophisticatedly fabricated by using micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technologies such as 3D laser lithography and metal sputtering. The magnetic field generated by an electromagnetic coil system allows efficient wireless actuation of the microrobots, which was characterized in various physiological conditions (in vitro viscous fluid, ex vivo rat brain blood vessels and a live nude mouse intraperitoneal cavity (in vivo)). Especially, the microrobots demonstrated stem cell transportation inside the body cavity of the nude mouse as a proof of concept of targeted cell delivery. Through this study, the use of the proposed microrobots has shown the feasibility of future applications in precision medicine.