Open source Biorobot

Everyone will be taught how to create biorobots with live muscles

Sofia Dolotovskaya, N+1

Scientists from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have published a protocol for creating microscopic biorobots that move due to contractions of modified muscle cells that respond to external influences: light or an electromagnetic field. Article by Raman et al. A modular approach to the design, fabrication, and characterization of muscle-powered biological machines is published in the open access journal Nature Protocols.

In March 2016, the research team announced the creation of a biorobot that is driven by muscle cells (myoblasts) of mice with the ChR2(H134R) protein gene inserted into their genome. This protein is a light-sensitive ion channel that is activated when irradiated with blue light with a wavelength of about 470 nm, causing the muscle cell to contract. Muscle cells grown in the form of ring fibers are stretched on a "skeleton" of hydrogel (polyethylene glycolacrylate, PEGDA) in the form of a flexible arc resting on a pair of columns. In the tests of such biorobots, muscle cells were reduced when irradiated with light of the desired length, deforming the "skeleton" and moving the device. At the same time, myoblasts, like ordinary muscle cells, can be trained, forcing them to contract again and again.

Drawing from the press release Now you can "build your own" bio-bot (Rick Kubetz, Engineering at Illinois) – VM.

Earlier, in 2014, the same scientific group created another similar biorobot. The flexible robot was also driven by muscle cells, but they were activated not by light, but by an external electromagnetic field. However, this control method did not allow selectively activating the necessary cells, precisely controlling the robot's movement. In addition, electricity can disrupt the work of living cells, in the environment of which such biorobots may find use. Therefore, in their next development, scientists decided to use light waves instead of an electromagnetic field.

Now scientists have published a general protocol for creating biorobots that move due to the contractions of modified muscle cells that are activated by one or another external influence (light or electromagnetic field). According to the author, the protocol was created for all scientists who want to repeat their results or develop new models of biorobots of the same type.

The protocol describes in detail all the stages of creating biorobots, indicating the manufacturers and characteristics of all materials used by the authors in the development of both types of robots. In short, at the first stage, using optogenetics methods, a line of muscle cells is created that are activated when exposed to light of a certain length (in the case of activation by an electromagnetic field, this stage is not required). Then the muscle cell cultures are grown so as to obtain miniature ring-shaped fibers. At the second stage, a "skeleton" is created: a base of polyethylene glycol acrylate (PEGDA) is printed on a 3D printer. Finally, an elastic ring of muscle cells is stretched over the skeleton.

Scientists are trying to use various living systems, from flagellate bacteria to heart muscle cells, as engines for "hybrid" biorobots combining biological and electronic components. For example, in 2016, scientists from the Case Western Reserve Research University created a biohybrid snail robot, which used the oral muscles of the California sea snail (Aplysia californica) and 3D-printed polymer components.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  15.02.2017