In the film “Fantastic Voyage”, a team of scientists goes inside the brain on board a miniaturized ship, in order to absorb a blood clot. The micro-robot technology depicted in works of science fiction may soon become “scientific reality”. An American start-up has just designed microrobots guided (by magnets) to damaged areas of the brain. The Food and Drug Administration has approved clinical trials, which should start in two years.
The Californian start-up Bionaut Labs specializes in the development of therapeutic technologies for patients with brain diseases for which few treatments are available. The company has just published its first results for patients suffering from Dandy-Walker syndrome and malignant glioma, a cancerous brain tumor considered incurable. Dandy-Walker syndrome is a rare malformation of the cerebellum and fourth ventricle, most commonly characterized by hydrocephalus — literally, water in the brain.
More precise and safer technology than current treatments
The start-up’s microrobots, which can be directly injected into the brain and then remotely controlled from a computer, would make it possible to treat these pathologies. They open the way to new possibilities compared to current treatments for brain disorders. ” Today, most surgeries and brain procedures are limited to straight lines. If you don’t have a straight line to the target, you’re stuck, you won’t make it “, told AFP Michael Shpigelmacher, co-founder and CEO of Bionaut Labs. The microrobotic technology allows you to hit targets you weren’t able to hit, and repeatedly hit them in the safest possible trajectory “, he added.
In addition, this technique would make it possible to relieve the often heavy treatments of cancers such as glioma. Indeed, the large number of drugs can lead to a loss of effectiveness in the long term, and undesirable side effects. The microrobots would be used to inject anti-cancer drugs directly into brain tumors in a “surgical strike”.
Clinical trials planned in two years
Concretely, the robot – a metal cylinder a few millimeters long – follows the trajectory preprogrammed by the inventors through a container filled with gel, supposed to imitate the density of the human brain. Instead of using optical or ultrasonic techniques, they opted for magnetic energy to propel the robot, as it is safe for humans.
Magnetic coils placed outside the patient’s skull are connected to a computer that can remotely maneuver the robot into the affected part of the brain, before extracting it the same way. Unlike an MRI, the device is easily transportable, and it consumes 10 to 100 times less electricity.
The technique might be used to treat Dandy-Walker syndrome. Indeed, people with this congenital disease most often present with cysts the size of a golf ball, which swell with water. They then increase the pressure on the brain, triggering a series of dangerous neurological disorders. The robot would treat these cysts: when it approaches a pocket filled with blue liquid, the device is propelled quickly like a rocket and pierces the bag with its pointed end, allowing the liquid to flow out.
A simulation shows how a remote-controlled microrobot (with a red body) might be used to puncture a cyst (represented by a blue ball) in the brain. © AFP – Robyn Beck
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A simulation shows how a remote-controlled microrobot (with a red body) might be used to puncture a cyst (represented by a blue ball) in the brain. © AFP – Robyn Beck
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A simulation shows how a remote-controlled microrobot (with a red body) might be used to puncture a cyst (represented by a blue ball) in the brain. © AFP – Robyn Beck
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A simulation shows how a remote-controlled microrobot (with a red body) might be used to puncture a cyst (represented by a blue ball) in the brain. © AFP – Robyn Beck
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Last year, the American Food and Drug Administration gave authorization to Bionaut Labs to launch its clinical trials on these two pathologies. While the company’s robots have already been tested on sheep and pigs, the first trials on humans are planned in two years. They might also treat other brain diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy or strokes.