Nanorobots help remove bacteria, toxins from blood

Nanorobots that are about 25 times smaller than the width of a human hair have been developed to remove harmful bacteria and toxins by swimming through the bloodstream.

Engineers at the University of California San Diego hope one day their proof-of-concept method will offer a safe and efficient way to detoxify and decontaminate biological fluids. Their findings were published Wednesday in the journal Science Robotics.

"The idea is to create multifunctional nanorobots that can perform as many different tasks at once," co-first author Berta Esteban-Fernandez de Avila, a postdoctoral scholar at UC San Diego, said in a press release. "Combining platelet and red blood cell membranes into each nanorobot coating is synergistic -- platelets target bacteria, while red blood cells target and neutralize the toxins those bacteria produce."

CONTINUE READING ON www.upi.com