Biohybrid microsystems actuated by cardiomyocytes TB Microcantilever, microrobot, and micropump

초록

This paper introduces biohybrid microsystems actuated by cardiomyocytes, such as microcantilever, microrobot, and micropump. The microfabicated biohybrid microcantilever can measure the contractile force of self-organized cardiomyocytes. The microcantilever is made of a biocompatible PDMS substrate, using a simple microfabrication technique and a specially designed 3D micromolding aligner. The contractile force of the cardiomyocytes makes a bending displacement of the microcantilever. Conversely, from the displacement, we can estimate the contractile of the cardiomyocytes on the microcantilever. The bending motion of the microcantilever can be applied as a biohybrid actuator of microrobot. We have developed a novel method to fabricate a crab-like microrobot that can actuate for a long period under a physiological condition. The microrobot consists of three separate front and rear legs which have a shape of the microcantilever. The performance of our crab-like microrobot was measured at an average velocity of 100 mu m/s, and the estimated total distance it traveled was 50 m for a one-week period. Finally, a micropump actuated by the self-beating cardiomyocytes is fabricated and the pumping performance is demonstrated.

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