title: Development of bacteria-based microrobot using biocompatible poly(ethylene glycol).
abstract: For the development of bacteria-based biomedical microrobot, we propose the fabrication method of biocompatible poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) microbeads using a cross-junction microfluidic channel. PEG droplets were polymerized by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation to form PEG microbeads of 8.18 ± 3.4 μm diameter in a microfluidic channel. Generally, the bacteria did not attach to the surface of the PEG microbeads because of their hydrophilicity. We modified the selective surface of the PEG microbeads using poly-L-lysine (PLL), promoting attenuated Salmonella typhimurium adhesion using the submerging property of PEG microbeads on agarose gel: the bacteria could thus be attached to the PLL-coated surface region of the PEG microbeads. The selectively PLL-coated PEG microbeads group showed enhanced motility compared with the PLL-uncoated and completely PLL-coated PEG microbeads groups. The selectively PLL-coated PEG microbeads group showed 12.33 and 7.40 times higher average velocities than the PLL-uncoated and completely PLL-coated PEG microbeads groups, respectively. This study verified the successful fabrication of bacteria-based microrobots using PEG microbeads, and the enhanced motility of the microrobots by selective bacteria patterning using agarose gel and PLL.
authors.affiliation: School of Mechanical Systems Engineering, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, 500-757, Korea.
authors.forename: Sunghoon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Sung Jun
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Seong Young
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: Jong-Oh
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Sukho
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial / Q000378:metabolism; D001419:Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism*; D020099:Coated Materials, Biocompatible / Q000737:chemistry*; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008863:Microspheres; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000737:chemistry*; D011107:Polylysine / Q000737:chemistry; D012371:Robotics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012486:Salmonella typhimurium / Q000378:metabolism*; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial; D020099:Coated Materials, Biocompatible; D011107:Polylysine; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols