MIT develops new tool "Cell Rover": Tiny Wireless Real-Time Monitoring of Living Cells

Researchers at MIT Media Lab have designed a miniature antenna that operates wirelessly inside living cells, opening up possibilities for medical diagnosis and treatment, as well as other scientific processes, because of the potential
to monitor and even guide cellular activity in real time.

"The most exciting aspect of this research is that we are able to create electronic humans at the cellular scale," said
Deblina Sarkar, chair of career development at AT&T at MIT's Media Lab and head of the Nano-Controlled Biotravel Lab.

A paper describing the study is published today in the journal Nature Communications
.

The technology, dubbed Cell Rover, by the researchers, demonstrates for the first time an antenna that can work inside a cell and is compatible
with 3D biological systems.

The antenna developed by Sarkar's team is much
smaller than the battery.

The laboratory researchers developed an antenna that converts electromagnetic waves into sound waves, the wavelength of which is 5 orders of magnitude smaller than the wavelength of electromagnetic waves, and the wavelength of sound waves represents the speed of sound divided by the frequency
of sound waves.

This conversion from electromagnetic waves to sound waves is done by manufacturing miniature antennas
using magnetostrictive materials.

When an alternating magnetic field acts on an antenna, changes in strain and stress (pressure) generated in the material create sound waves in the antenna, says
Baju Joy, a student in Sarkar's lab and lead author of the study.

Configured in this way, the antenna can be used to explore the biological basis at the time of natural processes occurring, Sakar said
.

According to the researchers, materials such as polymers can undergo changes in mass or stress as chemicals or biomolecules change — already used in medical and other studies — and can be combined
with the manipulation of "cell rovers.

With such capabilities, "cell rovers" could be valuable
in areas such as cancer and neurodegenerative disease research.

Anantha P.

The researchers named their intracellular antenna technology "Cell Rover," calling on its mission
to explore new frontiers, just like Mars Rover.

"You can think of a 'cell rover' as an expedition," Sarkar says, "exploring the inner world
of cells.