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Updated: Jul 22, 2025

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Cultivation of Green Microalgae in Bubble Column Photobioreactors and an Assay for Neutral Lipids
Published on: January 7, 2019
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Biohybrid Microalgae Robots: Design, Fabrication, Materials, and Applications.
Fangyu Zhang1, Zhengxing Li1, Chuanrui Chen1
1Department of Nanoengineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
Advanced Materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)
|July 20, 2023
Summary
Microalgae-based biohybrid microrobots offer a promising new frontier for biomedical and environmental applications. These innovative robots leverage microalgae
Area of Science:
- Bioengineering
- Microbiology
- Robotics
Background:
- Biohybrid microrobots integrate microorganisms with artificial components.
- Microalgae possess unique features making them ideal for natural actuation in microrobotic systems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review microalgae-based biohybrid microrobots for biomedical and environmental applications.
- To describe the propulsion and phototaxis behaviors of microalgae relevant to microrobot design.
Main Methods:
- Discussing the properties of green microalgae, blue-green algae, and diatoms for microrobot construction.
- Exploring chemical and physical methods for functionalizing algae surfaces with reactive materials.
- Presenting fabrication strategies for advanced biohybrid microalgae robots.
Main Results:
- Microalgae exhibit distinct propulsion and phototaxis behaviors suitable for microrobotic applications.
- Surface functionalization enables the creation of advanced algae-based microrobots.
- Algae-driven microrobots show potential in drug delivery, imaging, and water decontamination.
Conclusions:
- Microalgae-based biohybrid microrobots present significant advantages for various applications.
- Further research is needed to address challenges and unlock future prospects in this field.
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