Mobile Microrobots for Biomedical Applications
Project Description:
Mobile microrobots have many vast potential medical applications, such as targeted drug delivery, diagnostics, biopsy, hyperthermia, brachytherapy, scaffolding, in vivo ablation, sensing, marking, and stem cell therapy. They can revolutionize existing therapies by allowing for disease monitoring, highly localized drug delivery, minimally invasive surgery, and stem cell therapy to be performed inside the human body. The application of mobile microrobots in these biomedical applications requires a truly multidisciplinary investigation in the areas of microrobot design, fabrication, locomotion modes, actuation and control systems, and real-time visualization. In this project, the postdoctoral fellow will work on the development of various types of magnetic mobile microrobots for in vivo biomedical applications. The project will leverage prior work by the co-advisors in developing novel magnetic micro-scale tumbling microrobots (μTUM) that can traverse complex surfaces in both wet and dry environments along with real-time ultrasound imaging of the microrobots locomoting in various animal models. The postdoctoral fellow will be able to utilize the state-of-the-art facilities at Purdue University’s Multi-Scale Robotics and Automation Lab, Cardiovascular Imaging Research Laboratory, Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue College of Engineering FlexLab, the Purdue Center for Cancer Research, and the Ray W. Herrick Laboratories for this project.
Start Date:
6/1/23
Postdoc Qualifications:
PhD Biomedical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Computer Science or equivalent. Experience with robotics, microrobotics, soft robotics, MEMS, imaging, or small animal disease models preferred.
Co-Advisors:
David J. Cappelleri
Professor, School of Mechanical Engineering
Professor, Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering (By Courtesy)
dcappell@purdue.edu
Multi-Scale Robotics and Automation Lab
www.multiscalerobotics.org
Craig J. Goergen
Leslie A. Geddes Associate Professor
Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine
cgoergen@purdue.edu
Purdue University Cardiovascular Imaging Research Laboratory (CVIRL)
https://engineering.purdue.edu/cvirl
Outside Collaborators:
Thomas Imperiale, MD
Distinguished Professor
Lawrence Lumeng Professor of Gastroenterology and Hepatology
Professor of Medicine; Adjunct Professor, School of Public Health
Indiana University School of Medicine
timperia@iu.edu
Bibliography:
Bi, C.; Guix, M.; Johnson, B.V.; Jing, W.; Cappelleri, D.J. “Design of Microscale Magnetic Tumbling Robots for Locomotion in Multiple Environments and Complex Terrains.” Micromachines 2018, 9, 68.
C. Bi, E. Niedert, G. Adam, E. Lambert, L. Solorio, C. Goergen, D. Cappelleri. “Tumbling Magnetic Microrobots for Biomedical Applications”, IEEE International Conference on Robotics, Manipulation, and Automation at Small Scales (MARSS). Helsinki, Finland, July 1-5, 2019.
Niedert, E.E.; Bi, C.; Adam, G.; Lambert, E.; Solorio, L.; Goergen, C.J.; Cappelleri, D.J. A Tumbling Magnetic Microrobot System for Biomedical Applications. Micromachines 2020, 11, 861. https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11090861
Xie, J., Bi, C., Cappelleri, D. J., and Chakraborty, N. (April 9, 2021). "Dynamic Simulation-Guided Design of Tumbling Magnetic Microrobots." ASME. J. Mechanisms Robotics. August 2021; 13(4): 041005. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4050098
Ebrahimi, N., Bi, C., Cappelleri, D. J., Ciuti, G., Conn, A. T., Faivre, D., Habibi, N., Hošovský, A., Iacovacci, V., Khalil, I. S. M., Magdanz, V., Misra, S., Pawashe, C., Rashidifar, R., Soto-Rodriguez, P. E. D., Fekete, Z., Jafari, A., Magnetic Actuation Methods in Bio/Soft Robotics. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2021, 31, 2005137. https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202005137