A 50-year-old movie has inspired Professor Shao Chen Chen of the University of California, San Diego, and his team to develop a “micro-fish”, which is the size of a human hair.
In the classic 1966 film ‘Fantastic Voyage’, a team of scientists was shrunk to microscopic size and injected into a patient’s body, where they destroyed a blood clot from the inside out. The microscopic fish it has now inspired can be printed on a 3-D printer, and can potentially be injected into a person. The fish, which could be used to carry a dose of a drug, can be directed by magnets to a specific area of the body.
Chen said that his team had inserted a magnetic particle into the fish’s head so it could be guided by a magnetic field. Chen also said the team has come up with a way to make the fish act like a sponge, and absorb toxic substances. This would enable it to detoxify the blood stream, among other functions.
The idea of a tiny robot swimming inside a person to help cure disease may seem extreme, and indeed Professor Chen says the technology will not be available for several years at a minimum. He also said they are seeking federal and private funding to help bring the new technology to the public.
Professor Chen and the university might work with a brochure printing company to create a booklet about the new technology to help source funding.
