Although medicine has made great strides in the field of cancer treatment, many obstacles still remain. For instance, even if a drug has proved efficient in a lab, it may not be so in a patient. Many cancers are highly desmoplastic. Thick fibrous tissue forms around and inside the tumour, making it highly inaccessible for conventional methods of drug delivery. A possible solution to this “logistical” problem lies in biohybrid machines (BHMs).
Biohybrid soft robots with self-stimulating skeletons. Guix et. al. Science Robotics, 2021.
https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.abe7577
BHMs are a relatively new concept, but one that shows great promise. These machines combine living cell actuators and artificial materials, and as such are more flexible, autonomous, and energy efficient than conventional robots.
The goal of project BioMeld is to design and manufacture a biohybrid catheter that would be small and flexible enough to gain access to hard-to-reach areas and deliver drugs on site. In order to achieve this, we will develop a modelling and simulation framework, test it and optimize it by developing a reconfigurable modular BHM catheter, and group the necessary manufacturing equipment into a biointelligent manufacturing cell (BIMC).
If successful, BioMeld will result in a streamlined manufacturing process that can be scaled up. This will be a pioneering effort, since nothing similar has ever been done in the field of BHM manufacturing.
DEVELOP A MODELLING AND SIMULATION FRAMEWORK FOR THE DIGITAL DESIGN OF BHMS
FABRICATE A SET OF BHM-BASED MODULES FOR A RECONFIGURABLE MODULAR CATHETER
VALIDATE THE FRAMEWORK
CONSTRUCT THE DEMONSTRATION BIMC (BIO-INTELLIGENT MANUFACTURING CELL)
UWE Team Showcases Latest Research Results at IET Bristol Local Network Event On Wednesday, 19 March, Dr Tsompanas was invited to give a presentation at an event organized by the Institution of Engine
Industrial Dissemination Seminar at DropsA SpA The one-day Industry-Oriented Dissemination Seminar took place on 12 March 2025 at DropsA SpA in Vimodrone (Milan), Italy. As a representative of the Bio
BioMeld project meeting in Cagliari, Sardinia As part of our winter project activities, the BioMeld research consortium gathered at the University of Cagliari for a two-day meeting. All project resear
BioMeld at the Biointelligence Congress in Stuttgart On Tuesday (22 Oct), our Project Coordinator Igor Balaž and Roberto Teti and alessandra Caggiano from Smart Sensing attended the 2nd Biointelligen
BioMeld at BioRob2024 The 10th edition of the IEEE International Conference on Biomedical Robotics andBiomechatronics (BioRob2024) was held from 1st to 4th of September in Heidelberg, Germany. BioRob
CIRP ICME ’24 The 18th CIRP Conference on Intelligent Computation in Manufacturing Engineering (CIRP ICME ’24) was held in Ischia (Naples) from 10th to 12th of July 2024. The Conference was or
International Workshop ICNAP 2024 Summer Meeting The International Workshop ICNAP 2024 Summer Meeting, organised by the International Centre for Networked Adaptive Production (ICNAP) of the Fraunhofer
Joint experiments at IBEC We are excited to share with you the news of joint experimental sessions on the preliminary testing of the catheter functionality. The experiments were carried out at IBEC fa
Light-based bioprinting IBEC is currently exploring other fabrication techniques for the development of 3D skeletal muscle-based actuators. Internship student Roja Baumann, who has Bachelor’s de
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101070328.
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
