*********************************
There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
*********************************
Title: Design, Fabrication, and Control of Magnetically Actuated Microrobots for Neurosurgical Applications
Committee:
Dr. Ansari, Advisor
Dr. Inan, Chair
Dr. Brand
Dr. Huang
Dr. Desai
Abstract: The objective of the proposed research is to develop a clinical scale system for neurosurgical microscale robots or microrobots to perform drug delivery for subsurface tumors. Microrobots for biomedical applications have recently attracted significant research attention due to their potential advantages in performing drug/cargo delivery, microsurgery, and biopsies. Owing to their small sizes, such robots are designed to be minimally invasive and precisely controlled inside the human body. In particular, the application of microrobots in neurosurgery has remained relatively unexplored due to the complex and critical anatomy required for navigation as well as the demand for highly precise operations. This proposal presents a microrobot capable of drilling in controllable trajectories inside a gel brain tissue phantom. Consisting of a 250μm neodymium magnet attached to a 1mm long drill part fabricated by two-photon polymerization, the microrobot can be steered by external magnetic fields to reach its targeted area. Additionally, the incorporation of nanoparticle loaded hydrogels onto the microrobot enables targeted drug delivery to treat subsurface tumors in the brain. Future work in the proposal will focus on scaling up and integrating the robotic control system with CT-scan for medical imaging and feedback control as well as testing the hydrogel's capability for drug delivery in actual brain tissue.
