Engineering a motile biohybrid microrobot

Liposomes are bioinspired particles which have tremendous potential for
targeted delivery of therapeutics. Motile liposomes that can actively propel themselves towards a
diseased site are difficult to design. Some bacteria are known to actively migrate towards, target,
actively penetrate and colonise tumours.

Our proposition is that instead of designing motile liposomes from scratch, they can instead
hitchhike on motile bacteria to ferry them to discrete locations, allowing liposomes to reach
otherwise inaccessible targets. In addition to delivery, the engineered bacteria will also form part
of the therapy itself leading to degradation of the tumour extracellular matrix, allowing the
liposomes to reach solid tumours.

We will engineer the liposomes for controlled response to external stimuli based on membrane
engineering (Elani) and engineer the liposomes with synthetic constructs enabling the liposomes
to also act as a kill switch to ensure bacteria destruction after therapeutic delivery (Ceroni and
Polizzi). We will also have a non-genetic external kill switch module to control safety, achieved by
exploiting a suite of stimuli responsive liposomes have been developed over the past three years
(light, heat, ultrasound, pH).