Ultrasound-powered nanorobots travel through blood to kill toxins

Ultrasound-powered nanorobots could one day sail through blood to remove harmful bacteria and toxins.

This is the goal of engineers at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) who have developed proof-of-concept nanorobots with the potential to safely and efficiently detoxify and decontaminate biological fluids.

Researchers built the nanorobots by coating gold nanowires with a hybrid of platelet and red blood cell membranes. According to UCSD, this hybrid cell membrane coating allows the nanorobots to perform the tasks of two different cells simultaneously - platelets, which bind pathogens like MRSA bacteria, and red blood cells, which absorb and neutralise the toxins produced by these bacteria.

The gold body of the nanorobots responds to ultrasound, which gives them the ability to swim around rapidly without chemical fuel. This mobility helps the nanorobots efficiently mix with their targets - bacteria and toxins - in blood and speed up detoxification.