- Joined
- Feb 25, 2004
- Messages
- 893
- Reaction score
- 1
Last night, I had an interesting discussion with a friend of mine who just completed his master's in engineering. His studies concentrated on nanorobotic technology. I had a thread on this sometime in the past year...
aha!
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=254863
In addition to molecular genetics, nanotechnology is definitely going to figure prominently in the future of medicine! Absolutely mind blowing!
*Sticks out tongue to all the naysayers* lol
Here is the original article which my friend co-authored:
S. Martel, J.B. Mathieu, O. Felfoul, A. Chanu, E. Aboussouan, S. Tamaz, P. Pouponneau, G. Beaudoin, G. Soulez, L'H. Yahia, M. Mankiewicz, "Automatic Vascular Navigation of Untethered Objects Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging Technology," Applied Physics Letters vol. 90, no. 11, 114105 (3 pages) Mar 12th 2007.
Abstract:
The feasibility for in vivo navigation of untethered devices or robots is demonstrated with the control and tracking of a 1.5 mm diameter ferromagnetic bead in the carotid artery of a living swine using a clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) platform. Navigation is achieved by inducing displacement forces from the three orthogonal slice selection and signal encoding gradient coils of a standard MRI system. The proposed method performs automatic tracking, propulsion, and computer control sequences at a sufficient rate to allow navigation along preplanned paths in the blood circulatory system. This technique expands the range of applications in MRI-based interventions. ©2007 American Institute of Physics
http://www.nanotechnology.com/news/?id=10239
2007-03-24 01:25:00
Some 40 years after the release of the classic science fiction movie Fantastic Voyage, researchers in the NanoRobotics Laboratory of École Polytechnique de Montreal's Department of Computer Engineering and Institute of Biomedical Engineering have achieved a major technological breakthrough in the field of medical robotics. They have succeeded for the first time in guiding, in vivo and via computer control, a microdevice inside an artery, at a speed of 10 centimetres a second.
Under the direction of Professor Sylvain Martel, holder of the Canada Research Chair in Micro/Nanosystem Development, Construction and Validation, and in collaboration with researchers at the Centre hospitalier de l'Universite de Montreal (CHUM), the Polytechnique team has succeeded in injecting, propelling and controlling by means of software programs an initial prototype of an untethered device (a ferromagnetic 1.5- millimetre-diameter sphere) within the carotid artery of a living animal placed inside a clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system.
Encouraged by these results, staff at the Polytechnique NanoRobotics Laboratory are currently working to further reduce the size of the devices so that, within a few years, they can navigate inside smaller blood vessels.
"Injection and control of nanorobots inside the human body, which contains nearly 100,000 kilometres of blood vessels, is a promising avenue that could enable interventional medicine to target sites that so far have remained inaccessible using modern medical instruments such as catheters," Professor Martel explained. "In collaboration with our scientific partners, Polytechnique researchers have begun developing several types of micro- and nanodevices for novel applications, such as targeted delivery of medications to tumour sites and diagnoses using navigable bio-sensors."
The results of this scientific breakthrough were published by Professor Martel and 10 co-authors from École Polytechnique de Montreal and the CHUM on March 14 in the scientific journal Applied Physics Letters.
Patent applications have been submitted for this method of real-time monitoring and guidance of devices for minimally invasive surgeries using MRI. Commercialization of the technology has been entrusted to Gestion Univalor, LP.
aha!
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=254863
In addition to molecular genetics, nanotechnology is definitely going to figure prominently in the future of medicine! Absolutely mind blowing!
*Sticks out tongue to all the naysayers* lol Here is the original article which my friend co-authored:
S. Martel, J.B. Mathieu, O. Felfoul, A. Chanu, E. Aboussouan, S. Tamaz, P. Pouponneau, G. Beaudoin, G. Soulez, L'H. Yahia, M. Mankiewicz, "Automatic Vascular Navigation of Untethered Objects Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging Technology," Applied Physics Letters vol. 90, no. 11, 114105 (3 pages) Mar 12th 2007.
Abstract:
The feasibility for in vivo navigation of untethered devices or robots is demonstrated with the control and tracking of a 1.5 mm diameter ferromagnetic bead in the carotid artery of a living swine using a clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) platform. Navigation is achieved by inducing displacement forces from the three orthogonal slice selection and signal encoding gradient coils of a standard MRI system. The proposed method performs automatic tracking, propulsion, and computer control sequences at a sufficient rate to allow navigation along preplanned paths in the blood circulatory system. This technique expands the range of applications in MRI-based interventions. ©2007 American Institute of Physics
http://www.nanotechnology.com/news/?id=10239
2007-03-24 01:25:00
Some 40 years after the release of the classic science fiction movie Fantastic Voyage, researchers in the NanoRobotics Laboratory of École Polytechnique de Montreal's Department of Computer Engineering and Institute of Biomedical Engineering have achieved a major technological breakthrough in the field of medical robotics. They have succeeded for the first time in guiding, in vivo and via computer control, a microdevice inside an artery, at a speed of 10 centimetres a second.
Under the direction of Professor Sylvain Martel, holder of the Canada Research Chair in Micro/Nanosystem Development, Construction and Validation, and in collaboration with researchers at the Centre hospitalier de l'Universite de Montreal (CHUM), the Polytechnique team has succeeded in injecting, propelling and controlling by means of software programs an initial prototype of an untethered device (a ferromagnetic 1.5- millimetre-diameter sphere) within the carotid artery of a living animal placed inside a clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system.
Encouraged by these results, staff at the Polytechnique NanoRobotics Laboratory are currently working to further reduce the size of the devices so that, within a few years, they can navigate inside smaller blood vessels.
"Injection and control of nanorobots inside the human body, which contains nearly 100,000 kilometres of blood vessels, is a promising avenue that could enable interventional medicine to target sites that so far have remained inaccessible using modern medical instruments such as catheters," Professor Martel explained. "In collaboration with our scientific partners, Polytechnique researchers have begun developing several types of micro- and nanodevices for novel applications, such as targeted delivery of medications to tumour sites and diagnoses using navigable bio-sensors."
The results of this scientific breakthrough were published by Professor Martel and 10 co-authors from École Polytechnique de Montreal and the CHUM on March 14 in the scientific journal Applied Physics Letters.
Patent applications have been submitted for this method of real-time monitoring and guidance of devices for minimally invasive surgeries using MRI. Commercialization of the technology has been entrusted to Gestion Univalor, LP.
