The University of Saskatchewan says a team of researchers has developed a highly accurate mathematical model of micro/nano-robot which improves its navigation allowing it to travel in the bloodstream.

This tool has not entered clinical trials because it had difficulty navigating within the human body. In a news release USask says it’s a tool that has “the power to substantially advance health care”.

The team’s work was recently published in Nature Communications and Dr. Chris Zhang, a USask College of Engineering professor, says he was inspired to design MNRs that work over a decade ago after the daughter of a former PhD student suffered a brain bleed and underwent surgery. Zhang and his team took into account the property as well as the movement behavior of blood in the human body.

The team has created a framework that can serve as a blueprint for optimal design and control of MNRs. They also developed an external power unit and created a prototype using 3D printing technology. After demonstrating the potential of their prototype, Zhang says the next step will be to move into clinical trials.

The potential of MNRs, because of their small size is the ability to reach remote areas such as the very small blood vessels inside the brain or a non-operable cancerous tumour. Here, researchers believe MNRs could be used to repair tissues and stop dangerous bleeding or deliver chemotherapy or other medications directly to the site where these drugs are most effective.

Dr. Chris Zhang (PhD) and two PhD students, Lujia Ding and N.N Hu, along with two USask alumni Dr. Bing Zhang (PhD), Dr. R. Y. Yin (PhD), are the first team to develop that optimizes the design of MNRs.