Biodegradable Nanobots May Help Doctors Treat, Diagnose Diseases Better

One of the biggest experiments being conducted in the medical field is the possibility of deploying nanobots to treat diseases. In a major breakthrough, a team of researchers from the University of Manchester and the Chinese University of Hong Kong has created biodegradable nanobots, whose degradation can be controlled by doctors, making it possible to use them in medical applications involving non-invasive surgery. "Creating robotic systems which can be propelled and guided in the body has been and still is a holy-grail in the field of delivery system engineering. Our work takes advantage of some elements offered by nature such as fluorescence, degradability, shape. But we add engineered features such as magnetization and biological activity to come up with a proof-of-concept behind our bio-hybrid, magnetically propelled microrobots," professor Kostas Kostarelos, one of the researchers on the project, said in a press release.