By Eve Herold –
Is it my imagination, or are the classifications for useful types of robots growing by leaps and bounds? First there were robots, then bots, chatbots, nanobots, biobots, xenobots and well, now there are living, self-assembling anthrobots made of human cells that help heal and regenerate damaged tissues. The discovery, led by Michael Levin at Tufts and PhD student Gizem Gumuskaya, was originally reported in November 2023, and was recently revisited by Neuroscience News. The researchers at Tuft University and Harvard’s Wyss Institute made the anthrobots from human tracheal cells that, when introduced to damaged neurons, had healing properties and encouraged the birth of new neurons. The cells behave in ways that far exceeds their original role in the body thanks to manipulation of the their signaling functions. It’s hoped that the tiny cellular bots, which can be genetically matched to a donor/patient by harvesting their adult cells, will lead to more regenerative medicine treatments.
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