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- ItemA Rotating Spiral Micromotor for Noninvasive Zygote Transfer(Hoboke, NJ : Wiley, 2020) Schwarz, Lukas; Karnaushenko, Dmitriy D.; Hebenstreit, Franziska; Naumann, Ronald; Schmidt, Oliver G.; Medina-Sánchez, MarianaEmbryo transfer (ET) is a decisive step in the in vitro fertilization process. In most cases, the embryo is transferred to the uterus after several days of in vitro culture. Although studies have identified the beneficial effects of ET on proper embryo development in the earlier stages, this strategy is compromised by the necessity to transfer early embryos (zygotes) back to the fallopian tube instead of the uterus, which requires a more invasive, laparoscopic procedure, termed zygote intrafallopian transfer (ZIFT). Magnetic micromotors offer the possibility to mitigate such surgical interventions, as they have the potential to transport and deliver cellular cargo such as zygotes through the uterus and fallopian tube noninvasively, actuated by an externally applied rotating magnetic field. This study presents the capture, transport, and release of bovine and murine zygotes using two types of magnetic micropropellers, helix and spiral. Although helices represent an established micromotor architecture, spirals surpass them in terms of motion performance and with their ability to reliably capture and secure the cargo during both motion and transfer between different environments. Herein, this is demonstrated with murine oocytes/zygotes as the cargo; this is the first step toward the application of noninvasive, magnetic micromotor‐assisted ZIFT.
- ItemDual Ultrasound and Photoacoustic Tracking of Magnetically Driven Micromotors: From In Vitro to In Vivo(Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2021) Aziz, Azaam; Holthof, Joost; Meyer, Sandra; Schmidt, Oliver G.; Medina-Sánchez, MarianaThe fast evolution of medical micro- and nanorobots in the endeavor to perform non-invasive medical operations in living organisms has boosted the use of diverse medical imaging techniques in the last years. Among those techniques, photoacoustic imaging (PAI), considered a functional technique, has shown to be promising for the visualization of micromotors in deep tissue with high spatiotemporal resolution as it possesses the molecular specificity of optical methods and the penetration depth of ultrasound. However, the precise maneuvering and function's control of medical micromotors, in particular in living organisms, require both anatomical and functional imaging feedback. Therefore, herein, the use of high-frequency ultrasound and PAI is reported to obtain anatomical and molecular information, respectively, of magnetically-driven micromotors in vitro and under ex vivo tissues. Furthermore, the steerability of the micromotors is demonstrated by the action of an external magnetic field into the uterus and bladder of living mice in real-time, being able to discriminate the micromotors’ signal from one of the endogenous chromophores by multispectral analysis. Finally, the successful loading and release of a model cargo by the micromotors toward non-invasive in vivo medical interventions is demonstrated. © 2021 The Authors. Advanced Healthcare Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH
- ItemA size dependent evaluation of the cytotoxicity and uptake of nanographene oxide(London [u.a.] : RSC, 2015) Mendes, Rafael Gregorio; Koch, Britta; Bachmatiuk, Alicja; Ma, Xing; Sanchez, Samuel; Damm, Christine; Schmidt, Oliver G.; Gemming, Thomas; Eckert, Jürgen; Rümmeli, Mark H.Graphene oxide (GO) has attracted great interest due to its extraordinary potential for biomedical application. Although it is clear that the naturally occurring morphology of biological structures is crucial to their precise interactions and correct functioning, the geometrical aspects of nanoparticles are often ignored in the design of nanoparticles for biological applications. A few in vitro and in vivo studies have evaluated the cytotoxicity and biodistribution of GO, however very little is known about the influence of flake size and cytotoxicity. Herein, we aim at presenting an initial cytotoxicity evaluation of different nano-sized GO flakes for two different cell lines (HeLa (Kyoto) and macrophage (J7742)) when they are exposed to samples containing different sized nanographene oxide (NGO) flakes (mean diameter of 89 and 277 nm). The obtained data suggests that the larger NGO flakes reduce cell viability as compared to smaller flakes. In addition, the viability reduction correlates with the time and the concentration of the NGO nanoparticles to which the cells are exposed. Uptake studies were also conducted and the data suggests that both cell lines internalize the GO nanoparticles during the incubation periods studied.
- ItemSingle pairing spike-timing dependent plasticity in BiFeO3 memristors with a time window of 25 ms to 125 μs(Lausanne : Frontiers Research Foundation, 2015) Du, Nan; Kiani, Mahdi; Mayr, Christian G.; You, Tiangui; Bürger, Danilo; Skorupa, Ilona; Schmidt, Oliver G.; Schmidt, HeidemarieMemristive devices are popular among neuromorphic engineers for their ability to emulate forms of spike-driven synaptic plasticity by applying specific voltage and current waveforms at their two terminals. In this paper, we investigate spike-timing dependent plasticity (STDP) with a single pairing of one presynaptic voltage spike and one post-synaptic voltage spike in a BiFeO3 memristive device. In most memristive materials the learning window is primarily a function of the material characteristics and not of the applied waveform. In contrast, we show that the analog resistive switching of the developed artificial synapses allows to adjust the learning time constant of the STDP function from 25 ms to 125 μs via the duration of applied voltage spikes. Also, as the induced weight change may degrade, we investigate the remanence of the resistance change for several hours after analog resistive switching, thus emulating the processes expected in biological synapses. As the power consumption is a major constraint in neuromorphic circuits, we show methods to reduce the consumed energy per setting pulse to only 4.5 pJ in the developed artificial synapses.
- ItemEngineering microrobots for targeted cancer therapies from a medical perspective(Berlin : Springer Nature, 2020) Schmidt, Christine K.; Medina-Sánchez, Mariana; Edmondson, Richard J.; Schmidt, Oliver G.Systemic chemotherapy remains the backbone of many cancer treatments. Due to its untargeted nature and the severe side effects it can cause, numerous nanomedicine approaches have been developed to overcome these issues. However, targeted delivery of therapeutics remains challenging. Engineering microrobots is increasingly receiving attention in this regard. Their functionalities, particularly their motility, allow microrobots to penetrate tissues and reach cancers more efficiently. Here, we highlight how different microrobots, ranging from tailor-made motile bacteria and tiny bubble-propelled microengines to hybrid spermbots, can be engineered to integrate sophisticated features optimised for precision-targeting of a wide range of cancers. Towards this, we highlight the importance of integrating clinicians, the public and cancer patients early on in the development of these novel technologies.
- ItemSupervised discriminant analysis for droplet micro-magnetofluidics(Heidelberg : Springer, 2015) Lin, Gungun; Fomin, Vladimir M.; Makarov, Denys; Schmidt, Oliver G.We apply the technique of supervised discriminant analysis (SDA) for in-flow detection in droplet-based magnetofluidics. Based on the SDA, we successfully discriminate bivariant droplets of different volumes containing different encapsulated magnetic content produced by a GMR-based lab-on-chip platform. We demonstrate that the accuracy of discrimination is superior when the correlation of variables for data training is included to the case when the spatial distribution of variables is considered. Droplets produced with differences in ferrofluid concentration of 2.5 mg/ml and volume of 200 pl have been identified with high accuracy (98 %), indicating the significance of SDA for e.g. the discrimination in magnetic immuno-agglutination assays. Furthermore, the results open the way for the development of a unique magnetofluidic platform for future applications in multiplexed droplet-based barcoding assays and screening.