>> THIS SET OF EXPERIMENTS
THAT WE'RE DOING
REALLY BUILDS UPON, UH,
WORK DONE A NUMBER OF YEARS AGO
BY SOME OF MY COLLEAGUES, UH,
NOT ONLY IN ACADEMIA,
BUT ALSO HERE AT NASA
WHERE IT WAS DEMONSTRATED
VERY NICELY
THAT COLLOIDAL PARTICLES
WHICH COMPOSE SOFT MATTER, UH,
IN FACT CAN BE USED AS, UH,
MODEL ATOMS, OKAY?
ATOMS ARE HARD TO SEE,
AND COLLOIDS,
WHICH ARE RELATIVELY LARGE,
SAY ON THE ORDER
OF A MICRON OR SO, UH,
YOU ACTUALLY CAN SEE
UNDER A MICROSCOPE,
AND DO THOSE, UH, YOU KNOW,
EXPERIMENTS, UH,
WHERE ONE CAN TUNE
THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THEM
AND SEE THE RESULTS.
WE, IN THESE EXPERIMENTS,
THAT, UH, PROFESSOR WU AND I
ARE-ARE WORKING ON, UH,
ARE TRYING TO BUILD
ON THAT FOUNDATION
IN A COUPLE OF WAYS.
ONE IS TO EXTEND
FROM COLLOIDAL ATOMS
TO MOLECULES, OKAY?
SO WE'RE LOOKING AT SYSTEMS
WHICH ARE NOT ONLY
SINGLE PARTICLES
BUT, IN FACT, UH,
ARE CHAINS OF PARTICLES WITH,
UH, THE ASSOCIATED DYNAMICS
AND INTERESTING BEHAVIORS
ASSOCIATED WITH THEIR STRUCTURE,
THINGS WHICH WE HOPE
WILL MIMIC BIOLOGY, FOR EXAMPLE.
SO DNA, OR, UH, POLYMERS.
THAT'S SORT OF ONE DIRECTION.
AND THE OTHER IS THE IDEA
THAT WE CAN USE FIELDS
TO CONTROL THEIR BEHAVIOR,
SO TURNING WHAT WAS
A PASSIVE SYSTEM
INTO SOMETHING WHICH IS ACTIVE.
WE HAVE BEEN WORKING
SPECIFICALLY ON APPLICATIONS
WHICH ARE BIOMEDICAL IN NATURE.
IMAGINE, FOR EXAMPLE, I COULD
TAKE THESE COLLOIDAL CHAINS
OR, UH, SIMILARLY,
WE TAKE INDIVIDUAL PARTICLES
AND FORM [INDISTINCT] WITH THEM
SO THAT THEY CAN MOVE
IN THE BODY,
AND, UH, WITH
THAT, DELIVER DRUG, OR, UH,
PROVIDE MECHANICAL ACTION
IN ORDER TO, UH,
ALLEVIATE STROKE
OR OTHER DISEASES.
THE BUILDING BLOCKS
OF THE MOLECULES,
COLLOIDAL MOLECULES THAT
WE'RE MAKING ARE ON THE ORDER
OF 1 TO 5 MICRONS, OKAY?
SO SOMETHING ON THE ORDER
OF, UH, 1/50 TO 1/20 THE SIZE
OF A HUMAN HAIR.
THE ADVANTAGE THERE
IS THEY'RE EASY TO INJECT
BECAUSE THEY'RE SMALL.
AND ONCE INSIDE THE BODY,
WE THEN ASSEMBLE
INTO LARGER BOTS
WHICH CAN TRANSPORT
TO THE SITE OF INJURY
OR WHEREVER WE WANT
TO TARGET OUR DELIVERY.
WE'RE ALSO CURRENTLY WORKING
ON THE IDEA OF DELIVERY,
UH, INTO THE LUNGS.
THE SPECIFIC ADVANTAGE HERE IS
THAT THE INDIVIDUAL PARTICLES,
THIS COLLOIDAL MATERIAL,
COLLOIDAL PARTICLE,
ARE NOW SMALL ENOUGH
THAT WE CAN AEROSOLIZE THEM
FOR INHALATION.
SO WE GET THEM SMALL ENOUGH.
THEY GO INTO THE LUNGS
WHERE WE CAN THEN
SUBSEQUENTLY ASSEMBLE INTO BOTS
WHICH ARE LARGE ENOUGH,
STRONG ENOUGH, POWERFUL ENOUGH
TO, UH, POTENTIALLY
BURROW THROUGH MUCOUS.
YOU KNOW, THIS IS CERTAINLY
IMPORTANT IN THE CONTEXT
OF COVID AND OTHER DISEASES
WHERE ONE OFTEN
TYPICALLY DIES FROM JUST ISSUES
WITH RESPIRATION.
THE ABILITY TO GET OXYGEN
THROUGH THOSE MUCUS LAYERS
OF THE LUNGS IS
REALLY WHERE THE PROBLEM LIES,
AND IF WE CAN COME UP WITH,
YOU KNOW, MICROROBOTIC
TECHNOLOGIES THAT CAN HELP
ALLEVIATE THESE ISSUES,
I THINK THAT'LL BE
OF SIGNIFICANT BENEFIT.
IN THE CONTEXT OF ACTIVE MATTER
AND ACTIVE MATERIALS,
WE HAVE ASSEMBLED
INDIVIDUAL PARTICLES,
THESE COLLOIDAL BUILDING BLOCKS,
INTO LOTS OF DIFFERENT THINGS
AND CONTROLLED THEM,
AND THAT DOES INCLUDE
MICROSCALE PUMPS
AND MICROSCALE MIXERS
AND MICROSCALE VALVES,
SO THESE COMPONENTS
WOULD WORK TOGETHER
IN ORDER TO MAKE
SMALL FACTORIES
WHICH FUNCTION TOGETHER
IN A HIGHLY PARALLEL FASHION.
YOU CAN IMAGINE
DOING A BLOOD TEST
ON A SINGLE DROP OF BLOOD,
SOMETHING LIKE THAT,
OR YOU COULD DO
1,000 BLOOD TESTS
ON A SINGLE DROP OF BLOOD.
THAT'S REALLY
ONE OF THE HOLY GRAILS
OF LAB ON A CHIP,
AND DOING IT ALL
IN A VERY, VERY SMALL,
CONDENSED ENVIRONMENT
CERTAINLY SAVES SPACE,
ALLOWS ONE TO PUSH
TO HANDHELD DEVICES
AND THINGS LIKE THAT,
WHICH WOULD BE VERY CONVENIENT,
YOU KNOW, OUT OF
THE DOCTOR'S OFFICE
BOTH ON THE GROUND
AND IN SPACE.
THE SYSTEMS
THAT WE'RE LOOKING AT,
THESE, UH, ACTIVELY CONTROLLED
CHAINS, UH, AS WELL AS
ACTIVELY CONTROLLED WHEELS
ARE MOSTLY PLASTIC,
BUT INSIDE CONTAIN
MAGNETIC DOMAINS,
UH, IRON OXIDES
THAT ALLOW US TO CONTROL THEM
WITHIN THE FIELD.
NOW THESE MATERIALS, UH,
ACTUALLY ARE HEAVIER THAN WATER,
AND AS A RESULT,
IT'S VERY DIFFICULT
TO STUDY THEIR DYNAMICS
ON THE GROUND, OKAY?
THEY'LL JUST--
THEY'LL JUST SINK.
ONE CAN THINK OF APPROACHES
TO TRY TO ALLEVIATE THAT.
HOWEVER, AS WE MOVE INTO
MORE COMPLICATED GEOMETRIES,
MORE COMPLICATED SYSTEMS,
THAT ARE COMPOSED
OF MULTIPLE COMPONENTS,
THERE'S NO WAY TO USE
STRATEGIES ON THE GROUND
TO ALLEVIATE THE SETTLING,
THE ISSUES THAT WOULD
BASICALLY MASK THE DYNAMICS
THAT WE WANT TO STUDY.
THE SPACE STATION, OBVIOUSLY,
PROVIDES US A PLATFORM WHERE
WE CAN STUDY THEIR DYNAMICS
FREE OF INTERACTION
WITH GRAVITY,
FREE OF INTERACTION WITH, UH,
SURROUNDING CAPILLARIES,
GLASS SURFACES,
THINGS LIKE THAT,
IN ORDER TO GET A, UH,
YOU KNOW, PURE READING
OF THEIR-- OF THEIR DYNAMICS
AND THE STRUCTURES THAT FORM
IN SPACE.
WE WOULD NEED A TECHNIQUE
THAT WORKS IN THREE DIMENSIONS
ABSOLUTELY, AND, UH, YOU KNOW,
SOMETHING WHICH WOULD, UH,
INTEGRATE EXTERNAL FIELD CONTROL
WITH 3-D IMAGING
IS GOING TO BE CRITICAL.
UM, YOU KNOW, THE SYSTEMS
THAT WE'RE LOOKING AT ARE--
UNDER THE BROAD CATEGORY
OF SOFT MATTER,
THEY ARE COLLOIDAL MOLECULES,
ONCE WHICH AREN'T SIMPLE ATOMS
THAT WE CAN IMAGE
IN A 2-D PLANE.
WE NEED TO SEE
AND CHARACTERIZE THEIR BEHAVIORS
IN FULLY THREE DIMENSIONS
WHICH REQUIRES
THE CONFOCAL MICROSCOPY.
THINK OF IT
AS A BASELINE, RIGHT?
WE NEED TO KNOW, SORT OF,
THE PASSIVE BEHAVIOR
BEFORE WE CAN TRULY USE
EXTERNAL FIELDS
TO DESIGN THE ACTIVE BEHAVIORS
THAT WE'RE SEEKING.
SO HAVING EXPERIMENTAL
OBSERVATION TO GUIDE US
IN BUILDING THEORIES
THAT ALLOW US
TO BETTER MODEL BEHAVIORS
IS GOING TO HELP US
DEVELOP NEW MATERIALS
AND BETTER ACTIVE MATTER
WHEN WE START BUILDING
MICROROBOTS AND OTHER THINGS
THAT ARE-- HOPEFULLY WILL,
UH, WILL PERFORM
A LOT OF THE FUNCTIONS THAT
I'VE, UH, BEEN TALKING ABOUT.