Disease Detecting Xenobots

Disease Detecting Xenobots will help with the early detection of diseases within mammals by obtaining samples of bacteria and viruses for doctors and scientists to study. The xenobots will be placed in a pill to be ingested and in the body will absorb different kinds of bacteria or viruses. The xenobots will be about 50 micrometers large and contain immune cells which can recognise pathogens and signal the xenobot to consume it. When a pathogen is consumed, the xenobot will harden and the pathogen will be trapped inside. After a week, the xenobots will deactivate, leaving the body through urine. The urine will be collected and sent to a lab to detect new strains of virus or bacteria. This technology diagnoses diseases and will help detect new strains of disease. The early detection of a disease plays a critical role in early cure development, saving many lives.

Many people and animals die from diseases that doctors could not diagnose in time and treat. 1 in every 10 people in America have an undiagnosed disease and many cancers can go for months without being detected. Xenobots could provide a noninvasive alternative to biopsies or other detection methods. 

Xenobots are living robots made from cells that have the ability to move and perform tasks at a very small scale. Disease detecting xenobots will enter the body, absorb pathogens and then leave. The xenobots will consist of the muscle and immune cells of a patient so they will not be recognised as a foreign object in the body. Immune cells in a xenobot could be trained to recognise cancer or other rare diseases. The xenobot will travel through the body using the muscle cells. As the xenobot comes into contact with other cells, it will use immune cells to detect pathogens. The immune cells will signal the muscle cells to surround the pathogen and absorb it. Afterwards, the xenobot will harden itself so that the pathogen cannot escape. With a set amount of food, the xenobot is on a timer to last about a week. When the xenobot runs out of food, it will die and naturally travel to the bladder to naturally leave the body. 

Everybody on earth is susceptible to disease and some of the more rare infectious diseases could be very challenging to diagnose. Each year over 12 million people in the United States receive a misdiagnosis and disease detecting xenobots will aim to reduce that number. Being treated for the wrong disease could be dangerous and will not properly help a patient recover.

The early detection of disease is critical to treatment and could be useful in preventing the spread of disease. A misdiagnosis could allow the spread of disease and endanger the patient. Xenobots will become a reliable option to recognise disease by capturing samples of pathogens to be analysed in a lab.

Disease detecting xenobots are just a concept but to make them a real thing, I would need to have access to a lab and the materials and machinery to design xenobots. Xenobots are being developed by Dr. Blackiston at Tufts University I would like to connect with him in order to have my concept become a reality.

Xenobots are a very new technology and there are many potential applications for them. Disease Detecting Xenobots are just a possible tool that may come from this invention.