Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed microscopic robots, known as microrobots, that swim through the lungs to deliver cancer-fighting medication directly to metastatic tumours.

The lungs are the most prominent organ for cancer metastasis. This is cancer that has developed in other areas of the body, or other parts of the lungs, and then spread through the bloodstream or lymphatic system to the lungs.

Currently there is no specific treatment tailored for advanced metastatic tumours in the lungs. Chemotherapy is a common approach; however, its effectiveness has proven suboptimal due to poor lung accumulation and targeting issues.

The microrobots deliver drug-loaded nanoparticles to the tumours to inhibit the progression of lung metastasis.

To create the microrobots, researchers chemically attached drug-filled nanoparticles to the surface of green algae cells. The algae, which provide the microrobots with their movement, enable the nanoparticles to efficiently...