Hair-Like Soft Robot Captures Tumor Cells From All 23 Liver Cancer Patients Tested

Tiny 'hairy' robot could help treat blood clots and detect cancer

By coating the robot with antibodies, researchers collected rare cancer cells circulating in the bloodstream from samples taken from all 23 liver cancer patients tested, showing its potential for future cancer monitoring and diagnosis. Scientists have developed a tiny soft robot covered in hair-like structures that can manipulate the flow of blood, potentially helping drugs reach vessel walls, speeding up the breakdown of blood clots and capturing rare cancer cells. Researchers from the Shenzhen Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics for Society, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Chinese PLA General Hospital in China developed a device called CiliaVine, which could eventually help deliver drugs more precisely, treat blood clots and potentially help monitor cancer by capturing tumour cells circulating in the bloodstream. It is attached to a medical guidewire and uses magnetic fields to make tiny flexible hair-like structures, known as cilia, move in different patterns. In the study, researchers tested its ability to break down clots and deliver drugs in laboratory models, and to capture tumour cells from liver cancer patients' blood samples and inside rabbits with liver tumours. Blood normally flows through vessels in smooth layers. While this is efficient for circulation, it makes it difficult to move drugs, particles or cells sideways across the bloodstream. Researchers designed the robot to disrupt that flow locally. Depending on how the magnetic field is programmed, its cilia can pump material towards the vessel wall, draw material away from it or create tiny vortices that mix the surrounding fluid. In laboratory tests, the robot helped deliver a greater amount of a model drug towards the vessel wall. The total reaching the wall was 146% higher than when the drug was left to spread naturally, while 75% more reached 1 mm beyond the vessel wall. Researchers also tested whether the robot could help dissolve blood clots. In a vessel model treated with the clot-busting drug tPA, clots were dissolved in around 40 minutes when the robot was operating, compared with an average of 70 minutes without it. The tiny robot can also be used for cancer monitoring, according to the study. By coating the robot with antibodies, researchers captured circulating tumour cells, rare cancer cells released into the bloodstream, in samples from all 23 liver cancer patients tested at the Chinese PLA General Hospital in China. The team also tested the robot inside living rabbits with liver tumours, where it was inserted into a major vein through a catheter and operated magnetically for 20 minutes with no reported signs of inflammation or tissue damage in the examined vessel sections. The technology has not yet been tested as a treatment or diagnostic tool inside human patients. But researchers say it could eventually offer a way to manipulate drugs and cells directly inside specific parts of the bloodstream, rather than relying on blood flow alone to carry them to their destination.

Earlier in 2026, Chinese and Hong Kong researchers built CiliaVine with 50 magnetic cilia to control blood flow. Now, the robot captured tumor cells from all 23 liver cancer patients tested, revealing potential for cancer diagnosis

A new robot named CiliaVine manipulates blood flow using magnetic fields. This device successfully captured circulating tumor cells from all tested liver cancer patients. It also demonstrated improved clot breakdown in laboratory models. Researchers coated CiliaVine with antibodies for effective tumor cell capture. A tiny soft robot covered in hair-like structures has demonstrated how magnetic control can be used to manipulate blood flow and capture rare cancer cells. Called CiliaVine, the device was developed by researchers from the Shenzhen Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics for Society, The Chinese University of Hong Kong and Chinese PLA General Hospital in China. The robot is attached to a medical guidewire and has 50 flexible structures known as cilia. Magnetic fields control their movement, allowing researchers to change how fluid moves around the device. In tests using blood samples from 23 liver cancer patients at Chinese PLA General Hospital, CiliaVine captured circulating tumour cells from all 23 patients, as per an Euronews report. CiliaVine was designed to change local blood flowBlood normally moves through vessels in smooth layers. While this makes circulation efficient, it also makes it difficult for drugs, particles or cells to move sideways toward vessel walls. CiliaVine was designed to disturb that flow locally. You Might Also Like: In 2000, a Spanish researcher found up to 7 micrograms of neuroactive alkaloids in every gram of chocolate. 26 years later, the finding still adds a chemical clue to the mystery of chocolate cravings Depending on the magnetic field, its cilia can push material toward the vessel wall, draw it away or create small vortices that mix the surrounding fluid. In laboratory tests, this helped move a model drug toward the vessel wall. The amount reaching the wall was 146% higher than when the drug spread naturally, while 75% more reached a point 1 millimetre beyond the vessel wall. The robot helped speed up clot breakdownResearchers also tested whether CiliaVine could improve the action of tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, a drug used to dissolve blood clots. In a vessel model treated with tPA, clots dissolved in about 40 minutes when the robot was operating. Without CiliaVine, the process took an average of about 70 minutes. You Might Also Like: In 2000, Sandia used a 416-nanometer cheesecloth-like crystal to bend infrared light with little loss. 26 years later, the approach still guides research into faster, cooler photonic chips The result showed that changing fluid movement around a clot could help the clot-busting drug work more quickly in the laboratory model. Antibodies allowed CiliaVine to capture tumour cellsThe researchers then tested the robot's ability to capture circulating tumour cells, which are rare cancer cells released into the bloodstream. They coated CiliaVine with antibodies and used it on blood samples from 23 liver cancer patients at Chinese PLA General Hospital. Circulating tumour cells were captured in samples from every patient tested. The team also tested the robot in living rabbits with liver tumours. It was inserted into a major vein through a catheter and operated using magnetic fields for 20 minutes. The examined sections of the vessels showed no reported signs of inflammation or tissue damage. A possible use in cancer monitoringThe experiments suggest that CiliaVine could eventually help manipulate drugs and cells in specific parts of the bloodstream instead of relying entirely on normal blood flow. Its ability to capture circulating tumour cells points to a possible role in cancer monitoring. However, the technology has not yet been tested as a treatment or diagnostic tool inside human patients. For now, the findings come from laboratory vessel models, blood samples from liver cancer patients and experiments in rabbits. CiliaVine brings together magnetic control, local fluid manipulation, model drug delivery, clot breakdown and tumour-cell capture in a single small device.