How can soft robots enhance cancer drug delivery? This is what upcoming research hopes to address as a team of researchers from the United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) were recently awarded £1 million ($1.33 million) to investigate how snail-inspired soft robots could be used to deliver cancer drugs. This research has the potential to help scientists develop non-invasive methods for treating cancer, which traditionally result in health-limiting side effects.
For the research, the team will focus on mimicking a snail’s travel behavior, specifically its slime locomotion, to navigate the interior of the human body without hurting the patient. Along with exploring how this can be used to deliver cancer drugs, the researchers will use this opportunity to explore deeper into the biomechanics of a snail’s slime locomotion, of which there is limited research on the topic. While the primary objective will be to enhance drug delivery methods for colorectal cancer, this technology has a myriad of applications beyond this research, including environmental and food safety.
"This research brings together biology, materials science and robotics in a way that could genuinely transform future cancer therapies,” said Dr. Mostafa Nabawy, who is a research leader in aerospace engineering at the University of Manchester. “By studying these remarkable organisms and translating their movement strategies into soft‑robotic systems, we hope to deliver a step change in how medicine is administered deep inside the body."
This research builds on a growing body of knowledge regarding snail-inspired soft robotics dating back to 2005. This includes a 2024 study published in Nature Communications that examined how sliding motions could be used for climbing robots.
How will snail-inspired soft robots help improve cancer drug delivery in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: EurekAlert!, Nature Communications
