Broken hearts could one day be mended using a novel scaffold developed by MIT researchers and colleagues.

The idea is that living heart cells or stem cells seeded onto such a scaffold would develop into a patch of cardiac tissue that could be used to treat congenital heart defects, or aid the recovery of tissue damaged by a heart attack. The biodegradable scaffold would be gradually absorbed into the body, leaving behind new tissue.

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Scientists at Tufts University are to develop ‘soft and squishy’ chemical robots that can squeeze into spaces down to 1cm, then morph back into something 10 times larger, and ultimately biodegrade, as part of a $3.3 million contract from DARPA.

Constructed mainly from rigid materials, today’s robots are unable to navigate complex environments with openings of arbitrary size and shape.

Based on the performance capabilities of the Manduca Sexta caterpillar, such as its flexibility, climbing ability and scalability, the Tufts team aims to develop ‘chembots’ that will be able to access confined and complex spaces, follow cables, ropes or wires and climb trees or other branched structures. The growth of the Manduca Sexta caterpillar also interested the researchers. From hatching to the end of its larval stage, the caterpillar grows 10,000 fold in mass using the same number of muscles and motor neurons.

Key to success of the chembots will be the use of new biomaterials. The initial chembots will be built with existing synthetic soft materials and actuators; however, the next stage of the project will use novel soft bionic composites that will be biocompatible and biodegradable.

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