Acoustic Fabrication of Living Cardiomyocyte-based Hybrid Biorobots

Abstract

Organized assemblies of cells have demonstrated promise as bioinspired actuators and devices; still, the fabrication of such "biorobots" has predominantly relied on passive assembly methods that reduce design capabilities. To address this, we have developed a strategy for the rapid formation of functional biorobots composed of live cardiomyocytes. We employ tunable acoustic fields to facilitate the efficient aggregation of millions of cells into high-density macroscopic architectures with directed cell orientation and enhanced cell−cell interaction. These biorobots can perform actuation functions both through naturally occurring contraction−relaxation cycles and through external control with chemical and electrical stimuli. We demonstrate that these biorobots can be used to achieve controlled actuation of a soft skeleton and pumping of microparticles. The biocompatible acoustic assembly strategy described here should prove generally useful for cellular manipulation in the context of tissue engineering, soft robotics, and other applications.

State of the Art in Actuation of Micro/Nanorobots for Biomedical Applications

“…Drug delivery colon carcinoma, cancer therapy [123,230] Regenerative Magnetic Cell manipulation, cell-encapsulating, and cells transport Colon cancer, oviduct, cervical and renal cancer, myoblasts and tissue engineering [43,46,56,152,199,[201][202][203][204][205][216][217][218][219][220][221][222][223][224][225][226][227][228][229]231] Acoustic Cell-encapsulation and delivery Tissue engineering (Cardiomyocyte) [232] Phototactic acoustic Tissue engineering Explorative tissue [233] by micro-organisms and cells. However, the current versions of these robots do not possess the responsive abilities found in natural organisms, like chemotaxis or thermotaxis.…”

Acoustofluidics – changing paradigm in tissue engineering, therapeutics development, and biosensing

“…The contraction and relaxation cycles of cardiomyocyte rings can act as selfpowered biorobots to induce synchronous locomotion and mechanical actuation. 91 Another method for creating complex cell patterns is the use of acoustic holography. In order to generate compound patterns by aforementioned methods, multiple acoustic sources must be carefully coordinated to superimpose waves which becomes excessively challenging for the arrangement of a large number of cells into complex topographies, as it requires thousands of transmitters.…”

“…The contraction and relaxation cycles of cardiomyocyte rings can act as self-powered biorobots to induce synchronous locomotion and mechanical actuation. 91…”

Medical Swimming Cellbots

“…The motility of swimming cellbots mainly comes from the migration ability of cells and the actuation of externally physical fields. Swimming cellbots that rely on the cell motility include sperm robots [ 25 ] and bacterial robots, [ 34 ] cardiomyocyte‐based robots, [ 35 ] and neutrophil robots that rely on chemotactic movement [26a] . The intrinsic movement ability of swimming cellbots is able to accurately perceive the surrounding environment, and precisely adjust the direction of movement.…”