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Edited by James R. Heath, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, and accepted by the Editorial Board November 25, 2008 (received for review August 5, 2008)
Abstract
We demonstrate mass-producible, tetherless microgrippers that can be remotely triggered by temperature and chemicals under biologically relevant conditions. The microgrippers use a self-contained actuation response, obviating the need for external tethers in operation. The grippers can be actuated en masse, even while spatially separated. We used the microgrippers to perform diverse functions, such as picking up a bead on a substrate and the removal of cells from tissue embedded at the end of a capillary (an in vitro biopsy).
Footnotes
- 1To whom correspondence should be addressed at: 3400 North Charles Street, 125 Maryland Hall, Baltimore, MD 21218. E-mail: dgracias{at}jhu.edu
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Author contributions: T.G.L., C.L.R., B.R.B., and D.H.G. designed research; T.G.L., C.L.R., B.R.B., and G.M.S. performed research; N.B. and G.M.S. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; T.G.L., C.L.R., N.B., G.M.S., and D.H.G. analyzed data; and T.G.L., C.L.R., B.R.B., N.B., G.M.S., and D.H.G. wrote the paper.
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The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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This article is a PNAS Direct Submission. J.R.H. is a guest editor invited by the Editorial Board.
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This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0807698106/DCSupplemental.
- © 2009 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA
Tetherless thermobiochemically actuated microgrippers
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