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Inspired by nature, artificial microtubules can work against a current to transport tiny cargoes

The technology, developed by Arnold Mathijssen of the School of Arts & Sciences and colleagues, could one day clear blockages in blood vessels or precisely target chemotherapy drugs to a tumor.
graphic of microvascular networks showing how free-swimming microrobots disperse but a microcatheter propels robots against a flow to a target
While free-swimming microrobots have been explored as a way to precisely deliver therapeutics within a blood vessel, they can disperse in the strong flows, failing to reach their target at high enough concentrations. In contrast, microrobots propelled along an artificial microtubule, developed by physicist Arnold Mathijssen and colleagues, can be transported precisely, even working against the current. (Image: Courtesy of Arnold Mathijssen/Nature Machine Intelligence)

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