MAgnetically steerable wireless Nanodevices for the tarGeted delivery of therapeutIc agents in any vascular rEgion of the body (ANGIE)
The ANGIE project aims to develop micro-robots for localised, targeted drug delivery to unblock blood vessels and fight stroke from within.
This ground-breaking project is funded by the EU and aims to develop nano-surgeons that will enter the body to treat blood clots.
This research will develop a radical, new technology for localised, targeted drug delivery based on steerable wireless nanodevices, capable of navigating the body’s vascular system to deliver drugs where no other instrument can go. ANGIE will offer health professionals vastly improved intervention capacity to tackle multiple chronic diseases and enable them to deliver drugs precisely where needed, with minimal side effects.
Navigating inside the body to treat injured tissues has fascinated scientists and the public for decades, but the required technologies have lagged far behind. Scientists in the ANGIE project believe that they are now in a position to make it happen.
The ANGIE project is run by a leading group of scientists working in universities, research centres, and innovative companies across Belgium, Germany, Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland.
This is a much-needed development because stroke is the leading cause of adult physical disability, affecting 17 million people worldwide each year.
Salvador Pane
“This could be averted if we had a way to wirelessly navigate nano-surgeons along the body’s vascular network to deliver drugs directly where needed – on command.” said Dr. Salvador Pané, the coordinator of the project.
Achieving such a breakthrough will require advances in fields such as medical robotics, numerical simulation and biomaterials. Also, it needs technical capabilities and facilities that only few organisations have. But even those who do often lack the knowledge to transform scientific knowledge into medical instruments ready for clinical application.
For many years, the scientists at ANGIE have been building the needed knowledge for the use and control of small-scale robotic systems for different health applications. They recently developed the first system to treat cardiac arrhythmias using electromagnetically steerable catheters and their group includes high-calibre scientists who are often sought for by the World Health Organization, the European Space Agency, and the World Economic Forum for advice.
The ANGIE project started at the beginning of 2021 and will need four years to develop the basic foundations of the technology.
SAFE is part of the consortium and is responsible for disseminating information about ANGIE to the stroke community.
The project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement number 952152.
