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Bacteria-inspired nanorobots with flagellar polymorphic transformations and bundling
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Bacteria-inspired nanorobots with flagellar polymorphic transformations and bundling

Jamel Ali, U. Kei Cheang, James D. Martindale, Mehdi Jabbarzadeh, Henry C. Fu and Min Jun Kim
Scientific reports, v 7(1), pp 14098-10
26 Oct 2017
PMID: 29074862
url
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-14457-y.pdfView
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open
url
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-14457-yView
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Multidisciplinary Sciences Science & Technology Science & Technology - Other Topics
Wirelessly controlled nanoscale robots have the potential to be used for both in vitro and in vivo biomedical applications. So far, the vast majority of reported micro- and nanoscale swimmers have taken the approach of mimicking the rotary motion of helical bacterial flagella for propulsion, and are often composed of monolithic inorganic materials or photoactive polymers. However, currently no man-made soft nanohelix has the ability to rapidly reconfigure its geometry in response to multiple forms of environmental stimuli, which has the potential to enhance motility in tortuous heterogeneous biological environments. Here, we report magnetic actuation of self-assembled bacterial flagellar nanorobotic swimmers. Bacterial flagella change their helical form in response to environmental stimuli, leading to a difference in propulsion before and after the change in flagellar form. We experimentally and numerically characterize this response by studying the swimming of three flagellar forms. Also, we demonstrate the ability to steer these devices and induce flagellar bundling in multi-flagellated nanoswimmers.

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Web of Science research areas
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
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