Microscopic grippers used successfully in animal biopsies

By Gina Wadas / April 23, 2013

Tiny, untethered microscale grippers have been successfully used to perform tissue biopsies in live animals, a study in the journal Gastroenterology reports. Researchers affiliated with the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Whiting School of Engineering and Institute for NanoBiotechnology developed the self-assembling microgrippers, called mu-grippers. The star-shaped devices use the animal’s own body heat to trigger them to clamp down around tissue to grab a sample like a tiny hand. Because the grippers are magnetic, they can later be retrieved for a minimally invasive procedure.

In the image above:

Dozens of dust-sized surgical mu- grippers in a vial. (Photo by Evin Gultepe, Gracias Lab, Johns Hopkins University)

David Gracias, the principal investigator for the study and associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, was quoted in a Johns Hopkins press release about the work: “This is the first time that anyone has used a sub-millimeter-sized device — the size of a dust particle — to conduct a biopsy in a live animal … That’s a significant accomplishment. And because we can send the grippers in through natural orifices, it is an important advance in minimally invasive treatment and a step toward the ultimate goal of making surgical procedures noninvasive.”

Read more here.

Story by: INBT
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