# Magnetic medical microrobots with memory-capable genetic circuits

Article · Chen H, Chen Y, Wang Y, Ning P, Li Y, Sun Y, Wei X, Gao R, Fan X, Tao F, Guo Z, Gu W, Li Z, Yin Z, Cheng Y

- Archive id: doi:10.1126/sciadv.aeb2528
- Published: 2026-05-13
- Venue: Science advances
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aeb2528
- PMID: 42127204
- PMCID: PMC13170677
- Citations: 0
- Source URL: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aeb2528
- PDF: https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13170677/pdf
- Provenance: europepmc

## Abstract

Autonomous microrobots can reach hard-to-access regions in the human body for minimally invasive therapy. However, their microscale size limits the integration of on-board memory, making their operation dependent on external controls. Here, we develop a magnetic probiotic microrobot integrated with memory-capable genetic circuit to execute autonomous antitumor treatment. Through a one-time magnetic hyperthermia trigger, the biological thermal sensor in the microrobot perceives temperature change and activates the memory module Bxb1-ssrA- attB -P7- attP , transferring the microrobots into a therapeutic state to continuously degrade fibrin and soften the tumor microenvironment. The genetic memory remains active for at least 12 days. A synergy toward deep tumor penetration is subsequently established between the memory-encoded softening and the physical penetration through magnetically controlled wave-like locomotion of microrobots. Compared with memory-absent microrobots, the proposed microrobots achieve a 6.70-fold tumor matrix stiffness reduction and boost in vivo anticancer efficacy from 21.86 to 87.52%. Beyond oncology, the proposed system establishes a generalizable framework of memory-encoded medical microrobots.

_Abstract reproduced under CC-BY (article license as recorded by Europe PMC; abstract reproduced unmodified apart from markup removal)._

Topics: [Synthetic Biology & Genome Engineering](https://space-kitty.com/topics/synthetic-biology)

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