Researcher(s)
- Noah Leslie, Mechanical Engineering, University of Delaware
Faculty Mentor(s)
- Sambeeta Das, Mechanical Engineering, University of Delaware
Abstract
Sickle cell retinopathy (SCR) is a common complication of sickle cell disease that can potentially lead to partial or total blindness. This occurs due to hypoxia and ischemia, which cause damage to blood vessels in the retina. The main current treatment for SCR involves a drug injection into the eye, which has potentially harmful side effects. Microrobots have shown efficacy in the past for biomedical usage and for measuring fluid flows. This research aims to examine the use of magnetically driven microrobots to measure blood flow dynamics as well as their use for targeted drug delivery. If microrobots are capable of gathering this information about blood flow, they have the potential to be used as diagnostic tools. A few initial fluid tests consisted of a solution of spherical magnetic microparticles in a microfluidic channel, the motion of which could be seen through a microscope and analyzed. As for the potential drug delivery uses of microrobots, several potential robot designs were 3D printed, tested, and improved. These designs generally consist of a body that is plated in ferromagnetic material, allowing it to be controlled by a system of Helmholtz coils. Within the body of some designs are small jets, which generate thrust to potentially push a drug stored within the body. Some promise was shown in the use of magnetic spherical microparticles in determining blood flow dynamics, but more fine-tuning of the process is necessary. The microrobot designs showed favorable results, and in the future they will be tested in an in vivo model using photoacoustic imagery and optical coherence tomography.