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Emerging Micro/Nano Tools for Cyborg and Bionic Systems
Scope
Micro/nano tools represent a rapidly expanding interdisciplinary research field where micro/nano technologies are applied to tackle existing challenges in engineering, physics, chemistry, and other disciplines. Micro/nano tools are particularly attractive and advantageous for use or integration with cyborg and bionic systems. For instance, such tools share similar size scale with the building blocks of biological systems (e.g., nucleic acids, proteins, and cells), and can be readily used to dissect/study biological objects from molecular components to whole animals in various functional formats, including but not limited to, sensors, actuators, robots, manipulators, assemblers, and drug carriers.
Recently, there is a significant technological trend to develop micro/nano tools that are capable of seamlessly integrating with living systems such as cells, tissues, organs, or whole animals to form hybrid bio-machine systems or cyborg/bionic systems. To enable better hybrid fusion of the biological parts and the micro/nano machine parts, significant research efforts have been spent in a wide range of topics, from fundamental materials research to artificial intelligence algorithms, and to system-level robot development; these research activities have led to unique functionalities of these micro/nano tools in terms of sensing, manipulation, and even characteristics enhancement of the original biological components.
Focusing on recent advances in micro/nano tools for cyborg and bionic systems, this Special Issue will publish original research articles, review articles, and opinion/perspective articles from leading researchers in the field. Specific topics include but are not limited to:
- Micro/nano biosensors
- Micro/nano robotics
- Microfluidics and Lab-on-a-Chip systems
- Micro/nano bioelectronic devices and systems
- New materials for micro/nano tools at bio-machine interface
- New mechanics, modelling for micro/nano tools at bio-machine interface
- New fabrication techniques, architectural and structural designs of micro/nano tools at bio-machine interface
- Novel applications of micro/nano tools at bio-machine interface
Guest Editors
Xinyu Liu, Professor, University of Toronto, Canada
Xinyu Liu is the Percy Edward Hart Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering and the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto (U of T). Prior to joining U of T, he was an Associate Professor and the Canada Research Chair in Microfluidics and BioMEMS in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at McGill University. He obtained his B.Eng. and M.Eng. from Harbin Institute of Technology in 2002 and 2004, respectively, and his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in 2009, all in Mechanical Engineering. He then completed an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology (with George Whitesides) at Harvard University in 2009–2011. At U of T, his research activities primarily focus on microfluidics, bioMEMS, and micro/nanorobotics, with applications in medicine and biology. He received numerous international and national research awards, including 8 best paper awards at major engineering and biomedical conferences. He is the Corresponding Chair of IEEE-RAS Technical Committee for Micro/Nano Robotics and Automation, a Speciality Chief Editor (micro and nanorobotics) of Frontiers in Robotics and AI, a Senior Editor of IEEE Robotics & Automation Letters, an Associate Editor of IEEE Trans. on Automation Science and Engineering, IEEE Trans. Nanotechnology, and IET Cyber-Systems and Robotics, and a Guest Editor of Engineering (the flagship journal of Chinese Academy of Engineering). He is an elected Fellow of ASME and CSME.
Pengfei Song, Assistant Professor, Xi’an Jiaotong – Liverpool University, China
Pengfei Song is an Assistant Professor in Department of Mechatronics and Robotics at Xi’an Jiaotong – Liverpool University. Pengfei received his B.Eng. degree from Jilin University, China in 2013 and Ph.D. degree from McGill University, Canada in 2018, both in mechanical engineering. Pengfei’s research interests lie primarily in microsystems, which include 1) microfluidic biosensors and platforms and 2) automation and robotics at microscale. Pengfei’s research receives several awards/finalists from major microfluidic and robotic conferences. Pengfei also serves as Associate Editors in IEEE-RAL, Frontiers in Robotics and AI, and the Young Editor in Cyborg and Bionic Systems.
Submission Instructions
Please select "Special Issue: Emerging Micro/Nano Tools for Cyborg and Bionic Systems" as the section/category during the submission process. Please also indicate in your cover letter that your submission is intended for inclusion in the special issue.
Submission Deadline: June 20, 2023
Table of Contents
- Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) has been a popular model organism for several decades since its first discovery of the huge research potential for modeling human diseases and genetics. Sorting is an important means of providing stage- or age-...
- Cockroaches can traverse unknown obstacle-terrain, self-right on the ground and climb above the obstacle. However, they have limited motion, such as less activity in light/bright areas and lower temperatures. Therefore, the movement of the cyborg ...
- Microrobots have great application potential in the biomedical field, to realize the precision and efficiency of microrobots in vivo is research focus in this field. Microrobots are accompanied by various disturbances in complex environment. These ...
- Nanopipette-based observation of intracellular biochemical processes is an important approach to revealing the intrinsic characteristics and heterogeneity of cells for better investigation of disease progression or early disease diagnosis. However, the ...
- The artificial locomotion control strategy is the fundamental technique to ensure the accomplishment of the preset assignments for cyborg insects. The existing research has recognized that the electrical stimulation applied to the optic lobes was an ...
