Regensburg 2019 – scientific programme

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 3: Active Matter A (joint session DY/CPP)

DY 3.8: Talk

Monday, April 1, 2019, 11:45–12:00, H20

Collective guiding of self-acoustophoretic particles in complex environments* — Tobias Nitschke and •Raphael Wittkowski — Institut für Theoretische Physik, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, D-48149 Münster, Germany

Using self-propelled microparticles for medical applications like targeted drug delivery has been a dream for many decades. With the recent discovery of self-acoustophoretic particles, which move when they are exposed to ultrasound, a new type of particles with a biocompatible propulsion mechanism has become available. It turned out that these particles can be made from biocompatible materials and be equipped with mechanisms for the encapsulation and release of drugs. However, the hitherto insufficient capabilities for controlling the collective motion of the particles remained as a big obstacle preventing far-reaching medical applications.

In this talk, we present a method that allows to guide a large number of self-acoustophoretic particles collectively to a prescribed target region. The method is based on combining a moving focused ultrasound beam with a synchronized time-dependent magnetic field. Our method is harmless to patients and works even in complex environments like a patient’s vasculature, when the particles are distributed throughout the body, and without information about the positions or orientations of the particles. Furthermore, we present a particle design that is particularly advantageous for applications.
*Funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) – WI 4170/3-1