Aug 27, 2015 09:22 AM EDT By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

Researchers at the University of California - San Diego (UCSD) are developing a bold, yet small-scale method for fighting disease.

According to a recent press release, the researchers designed "microfish" to intelligently distribute drugs from within a person's body. Microfish are microrobots made with a 3-D printer to look like fish.

The UCSD scientists published their work in the journal Advanced Materials.

The study authors hope their technology can be adapted and implemented for more than just smart, focused detoxification. The microfish are controlled magnetically and are fueled by hydrogen peroxide.

"We have developed an entirely new method to engineer nature-inspired microscopic swimmers that have complex geometric structures and are smaller than the width of a human hair. With this method, we can easily integrate different functions inside these tiny robotic swimmers for a broad spectrum of applications," study co-first author Wei Zhu, a nanoengineering Ph.D. student at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UCSD, said in the release. "The neat thing about this experiment is that it shows how the microfish can doubly serve as detoxification systems and as toxin sensors."

The method the researchers used is called microscale continuous optical printing (µCOP), which is used to develop high-resolution 3-D printed materials on the micro scale.

"This method has made it easier for us to test different designs for these microrobots and to test different nanoparticles to insert new functional elements into these tiny structures," Jinxing Li, the study's other co-first author, said in the release. "It's my personal hope to further this research to eventually develop surgical microrobots that operate safer and with more precision."

(Source: UC - San Diego)

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