Micro/nanorobots have attracted significant interest in the biomedical field due to their micro/nano scale sizes and autonomously untethered motions. Meanwhile, stem cell‐based therapy has emerged as a promising approach to cure previously irreparable degenerative diseases by virtue of the stem cells’ differentiation and regeneration. To ensure the efficiency of the stem cell delivery, developing suitable and reliable cell‐transport systems is essential. Micro/nanorobots aimed at cell transport have progressed in recent years, which can perform this crucial step of cell delivery accurately and noninvasively during cell‐based therapy. Herein, a review of the design and fabrication technologies and actuation mechanisms of cell‐transport microrobots is presented. The applications of the micro/nanorobotic cell‐manipulation and cell‐transport platforms are discussed, as well as the current challenges and the future perspectives in translation of microrobots from research stage to clinical applications.

Miniaturization of synthetic micro/nanomotors (MNMs) brings great application prospects but limits their functionalization ability. Here, we report self-fueled metal organic framework (MOF) micromotors that are endowed with capabilities of self-propulsion and antibacterial therapy by their material’s intrinsic properties. The spontaneous degradation of the MOF micromotors in water would release their own constituting components of ions which act as fuels to propel themselves by ionic diffusionphoresis with a high energy conversion efficiency. Meanwhile, the metal cations released from the MOF micromotors can also serve as antibacterial reagents to kill Escherichia coli (E. coli) with motion enhanced efficacy, which could significantly accelerate the wound closure in a bacterially infected wound model in vivo. Our work provides a general guidance for constructing functional MNMs by taking advantage of the motors’ own materials to achieve self-propulsion and on-demand task assignments, which would promote future development of highly integrated micro/nanorobotic systems at micro/nanoscale.

Oral drug delivery is a common route for management of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) but suffers from low bioavailability and systemic side effects during passage through the alimentary canal. Here, we present a therapeutic nano reagent of a ferulic acid-derived lignin nanoparticle (FALNP). We showed that FALNP with favorable antioxidant activity can regulate IBD. More importantly, the intestinal pHresponsive degradability of FALNP allows it to withstand the harsh gastric acid environment, bypass physiological barriers, and target the intestine for gastrointestinal delivery. In vivo experiments showed that oral administration of FALNP markedly relieved pathological symptoms in a mouse model of acute colitis by reducing oxidative stress and regulating the gut microbiome. By integrating anti-inflammatory medicine, FALNP also can be used as a bioactive carrier to exert a potent synergistic therapeutic effect. In addition to colitis, FALNP can be readily adaptable for use as a carrier platform for therapy of many other intestinal diseases.