Microrobotics meets nanomedicine for improved eye surgery

Prof. Bradley Nelson is a specialist in the integration of microrobotics and nanomedicine. In this ERC project, he is developing new, wireless minimally invasive diagnostic and therapeutic microtechnologies with concrete applications for eye surgery. This project builds on the recent advances in robotic assistance in surgical and diagnostic procedures as well as in precisely targeted drug delivery therapies. Prof. Nelson and his team are using these microrobotic devices to pursue specific ophthalmic therapies, including the administration of drugs to the retina to treat AMD (age-related macular degeneration) and RVO (retinal vein occlusion), two major causes of vision loss around the world and for which there is no effective treatment. The researchers have already started animal trials on rabbits and hope to open the way to clinical trials on humans in the last year of the project.

These novel procedures, based on the development and integration of many state-of-art technologies, could reduce the risks related to manual-performed eye surgery. They could also result in less trauma and faster recovery times for the patients, and could enable new therapies that have not yet been conceived.

Beyond ophthalmology, these pioneering microrobotics therapies clearly have the potential to be applied in many systems in the body - such as the digestive, the circulatory, the urinary, the respiratory and the female reproductive systems. This project could lead to a major breakthrough in the use of microrobotics in medicine and surgery.