Selman Sakar Awarded ERC Proof of Concept Grant

Selman Sakar: MagFlow - Introducing the first fully flow-conveyed and magnetically-steered microcatheter system

Minimally invasive medical procedures, such as endovascular catheterization, have drastically reduced procedure-associated risks for patients and costs for hospitals. However, practitioners still cannot quickly and safely reach deep body tissues due to the miniaturization issues associated with the existing manufacturing paradigm and the tedious process of navigating commercially available catheters. MagFlow introduces an innovative approach towards minimally invasive surgery that realizes the delivery of ultra-lightweight and ultra-flexible microscopic probes by taking full advantage of the existing viscous flow inside blood vessels. With this technique, the microengineered devices are transported through vascular networks with arbitrary complexity almost effortlessly. We developed an endovascular microrobotic toolkit with cross-sectional area that is approximately three orders of magnitude smaller than the smallest microcatheter currently available for chemical, mechanical, and electrical interrogation. Our technology will improve the state-of-the-art practices as it enhances the reachability, reduces the risk of iatrogenic damage, drastically increases the speed of robot-assisted interventions, and enables the deployment of multiple leads simultaneously through a standard needle injection. As a result, several invasive surgeries can shift to endovascular interventions, knowledge on neuronal electrophysiology can grow significantly, and a novel type of brain-machine interface can be established. The goal of the MagFlow project is to both explore the commercial viability of our unique technology and take the first steps towards the clinical trial phase by adapting the platform for in vivo experimentation.