Biofilm colonies are typically resistant to general antibiotic treatment and require targeted methods for their removal. One of these methods includes the use of nanoparticles as carriers for antibiotic delivery, where they randomly circulate in fluid until they make contact with the infected areas. However, the required proximity of the particles to the biofilm results in only moderate efficacy. We demonstrate here that the nonpathogenic magnetotactic bacteria Magnetosopirrillum gryphiswalense (MSR-1) can be integrated with drug-loaded mesoporous silica microtubes to build controllable microswimmers (biohybrids) capable of antibiotic delivery to target an infectious biofilm. Applying external magnetic guidance capability and swimming power of the MSR-1 cells, the biohybrids are directed to and forcefully pushed into matured Escherichia coli (E. coli) biofilms. Release of the antibiotic, ciprofloxacin, is triggered by the acidic microenvironment of the biofilm, ensuring an efficient drug delivery system. The results reveal the capabilities of a nonpathogenic bacteria species to target and dismantle harmful biofilms, indicating biohybrid systems have great potential for antibiofilm applications.

Many motile microorganisms swim and navigate in chemically and mechanically complex environments. These organisms can be functionalized and directly used for applications (biohybrid approach), but also inspire designs for fully synthetic microbots. The most promising designs of biohybrids and bioinspired microswimmers include one or several magnetic components, which lead to sustainable propulsion mechanisms and external controllability. This Review addresses such magnetic microswimmers, which are often studied in view of certain applications, mostly in the biomedical area, but also in the environmental field. First, propulsion systems at the microscale are reviewed and the magnetism of microswimmers is introduced. The review of the magnetic biohybrids and bioinspired microswimmers is structured gradually from mostly biological systems toward purely synthetic approaches. Finally, currently less explored parts of this field ranging from in situ imaging to swarm control are discussed.

It has been shown that magnetic particle imaging (MPI), an imaging method suggested in 2005, is capable of measuring the spatial distribution of magnetic nanoparticles. Since the particles can be administered as biocompatible suspensions, this method promises to perform well as a tracer-based medical imaging technique. It is capable of generating real-time images, which will be useful in interventional procedures, without utilizing any harmful radiation. To obtain a signal from the administered superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) particles, a sinusoidal changing external homogeneous magnetic field is applied. To achieve spatial encoding, a gradient field is superimposed. Conventional MPI works with a spatial encoding field that features a field free point (FFP). To increase sensitivity, an improved spatial encoding field, featuring a field free line (FFL) can be used. Previous FFL scanners, featuring a 1-D excitation, could demonstrate the feasibility of the FFL-based MPI imaging process. In this work, an FFL-based MPI scanner is presented that features a 2-D excitation field and, for the first time, an electronic rotation of the spatial encoding field. Furthermore, the role of relaxation effects in MPI is starting to move to the center of interest. Nevertheless, no reconstruction schemes presented thus far include a dynamical particle model for image reconstruction. A first application of a model that accounts for relaxation effects in the reconstruction of MPI images is presented here in the form of a simplified, but well performing strategy for signal deconvolution. The results demonstrate the high impact of relaxation deconvolution on the MPI imaging process.

Synthetic microswimmers mimicking biological movements at the microscale have been developed in recent years. Actuating helical magnetic materials with a homogeneous rotating magnetic field is one of the most widespread techniques for propulsion at the microscale, partly because the actuation strategy revolves around a simple linear relationship between the actuating field frequency and the propeller velocity. However, the full control of the swimmers' motion has remained a challenge. Increasing the controllability of micropropellers is crucial to achieve complex actuation schemes that in turn are directly relevant for numerous applications. The simplicity of the linear relationship though limits the possibilities and flexibilities of swarm control. Using a pool of randomly-shaped magnetic microswimmers, we show that the complexity of shape can advantageously be translated into enhanced control. In particular, directional reversal of sorted micropropellers is controlled by the frequency of the actuating field.2 This directionality change is linked to the balance between magnetic and hydrodynamic forces.We further show an example how this behavior can experimentally lead to simple and effective sorting of individual swimmers from a group. The ability of these propellers to reverse swimming direction solely by frequency increases the control possibilities and is an example for propeller designs, where the complexity needed for many applications is embedded directly in the propeller geometry rather than external factors such as actuation sequences. I. IntroductionMicroswimmers are envisioned for a multitude of applications ranging from solving environmental problems to being used for micro surgery [1][2][3]. Precise, versatile and noninvasive controllability is necessary to cover this broad scope of applications. These requirements are mostly matched by magnetic microswimmers. The fuel-free actuation by weak and homogeneous magnetic fields indeed allows remote controlling in many environments, the synthesis via nanofabrication makes them accessible even on a sub-micrometer scale [4][5][6]. In addition, the ability to functionalize their surface and the limited toxicity of the mostly iron-based propellers makes them appealing for medical applications [2,7]. Many of the current magnetic microswimmers use a helical shape with a fixed magnetic moment to rotate in an externally applied magnetic field, which enables stable propulsion. In this case, a simple linear relationship between the frequency of the actuating magnetic field and the velocity of micropropellers is used to precisely control the propeller [5,[8][9][10]. This leaves the sign of the swimming direction of the propeller to be determined by the rotation direction of the applied magnetic field, which limits the versatility of their actuation capability: when controlling two or more geometrically identical propellers, it is not possible to let them swim in a common propulsion mode respectively in the same direction and, if needed, in opposite directions, simpl...