A team of scientists from the Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials at Bar-Ilan University of Israel has successfully created nanobots that can operate inside a living creature-- cockroaches.
The researchers, led by Prof. Ido Bachelet, used a technique called DNA origami that involves tying together different strands of DNA to create some of a folded box with a lid. The lid of the box serves as the E or the robot's effecter, and this only opens when certain key molecules comes into contact with it.
The nanobots were integrated into a species of cockroaches commonly used as feeds for reptiles. The DNA box was also coated with a chemical that will be recognized by the cockroach's body as hemolymph cells, which acts as their white blood cells. Upon entering the blood stream, the DNA box will attach itself to the blood cells.
The box carries four kinds of robots, namely E, P1, N, and P2. Each of them has keys that will enable them to open up E. Different combinations of the robots creates different reactions to the effector. These combinations can be used in a series to command the robots to perform logical tasks and operations including keeping tabs on the number of times a certain chemical payload was delivered to the cell.
This research was the first study to successfully integrate logically-operating nanobots inside a living creature.
"It allows you to look for more than an AND operation," an assistant professor at the University of California, Shawn Douglas, explained to LiveScience. Douglas was not part of this study but he and Bachelet has worked together on similar research at the Wyss Institute of Harvard.
The research has left many questions unanswered, including the ideal number of nanomachines for a certain space.
Further details of this study can be read in the April 8 issue of Nature Nanotechnology.
