This robotic medical tape mimics a real parasite to invade your body

It’s the medical innovation no one asked for. Scientists have just created a synthetic version of a tapeworm’s tiny hook-filled head—a potentially disturbing invention that might actually make it easier to deliver some drugs or tests.

Harvard University researchers developed the robotape anchor in hopes of improving on existing methods of attaching it to body tissue.In lab experiments that tested their creation, they found that the coiled attachment was as sticky as intended can have a variety of applications, from improving drug delivery to making more convenient anti-theft devices.

Adult tapeworms survive by attaching themselves to their host’s intestines and extracting nutrients from our bodies. Many, though not all, tapeworm species do this with their scolex, or hooked “teeth” on their heads. Although most of us prefer not to think about the tapeworm and its feeding apparatus about, Harvard researchers took inspiration from it instead.

“Parasitic species have a rather dubious reputation among the general public because of their often gruesome body shapes and unfamiliar life cycles that seem straight out of science fiction,” said researcher James Weaver, a biomedical engineer at Harvard’s Wyss Institute. statement from the university. “Despite this fact, it is important to recognize that these species are particularly well adapted to anchoring in a variety of host tissues using a significant variety of species- and tissue-specific attachment organs.”

There are existing technologies that leverage certain aspects of the tapeworm as a way to deliver long-lasting drugs or medical sensors to human internal tissues or organs. given how small and surprisingly complex these structures are With the help of invertebrate zoologists, the team was able to develop a millimeter-long appendage made of stainless steel and polymers.

They tested their prototype on medical hydrogels that could mimic body tissue, and found that across the board it could easily attach to any material tested, with the only limitation in adhesion being the actual strength of the tissue.

“These results demonstrate the efficacy of parasite-inspired deployable designs as an alternative or complement to existing tissue attachment mechanisms,” the scientists wrote in their paper. published in this week’s magazine PNAS Nexus.

The findings are just a proof of concept for the team, which means more research will be needed to confirm its feasibility. But they were able to make their prototype relatively cheaply, an important consideration for future plans for mass production provide for a wide range of its uses.

It can be used to precisely deliver long-term release drugs to specific areas of the body with minimal tissue damage, for example, or to place diagnostic tests or sensors that monitor parameters such as body temperature or drug levels scolex, the appendage can also serve as a model in the laboratory to better understand how these parasites physically affect our bodies.And beyond medicine, tapeworm technology can has been used in reversible tags attached to wildlife or in temporary anti-theft devices used in retail stores, the researchers noted.

Those all sound like very useful and practical applications, but let’s just hope no one thinks of creating a larger version of this that can be attached to a Boston Dynamics robot dog or something. the world is scary enough as it is.