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Peer-reviewedCC BYNature Materials

Magnetoelectric microrobots for spinal cord injury regeneration

  • Hao Ye1,2
  • Jingjing Zang3,4
  • Jiawei Zhu1,2
  • Denis von Arx1,2
  • Jian Zhao5,2
  • Vitaly Pustovalov1,2
  • Minmin Mao6,2
  • Qiao Tang7,1,2
  • Andrea Veciana1,2
  • Harun Torlakcik1,2
  • Elric Zhang1,2
  • Semih Sevim8,2
10 more authors
  • Roger Sanchis‐Gual9,1,2
  • Quan Gao1,10
  • Xiangzhong Chen11,12,13,14
  • Daniel Ahmed15,16,17,18
  • Maria Victoria Sanchez-Vives13,14,2
  • Josep Puigmartí‐Luis19,13,4
  • Cong Luo20,2
  • B.J. Nelson21
  • Stephan C. F. Neuhauss22
  • Salvador Pané23
23 affiliations
  1. 1Multi-Scale Robotics Lab (MSRL), Institute of Robotics & Intelligent Systems (IRIS), ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
  2. 2Multi-Scale Robotics Lab (MSRL), Institute of Robotics & Intelligent Systems (IRIS), ETH Zurich, Zurich 8092, Switzerland
  3. 3Department of Molecular Life Sciences, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. [email protected]
  4. 4Department of Molecular Life Sciences, University of Zurich, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland
  5. 5Department of Pharmaceutics, Wuya College of Innovation, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang, China
  6. 6College of Electronic Information and Engineering, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou, China
  7. 7Key Laboratory of Biomaterials of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, Engineering Technology Research Center of Drug Carrier of Guangdong, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China
  8. 8Multi-Scale Robotics Lab (MSRL), Institute of Robotics & Intelligent Systems (IRIS), ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. [email protected]
  9. 9Instituto de Ciencia Molecular, Universitat de València, Paterna, Spain
  10. 10Acoustics Robotics Systems Lab (ARSL), ETH-Zürich, Rüschlikon CH-880, Switzerland
  11. 11International Institute for Intelligent Nanorobots and Nanosystems, College of Intelligent Robotics and Advanced Manufacturing, State Key Laboratory of Photovoltaic Science and Technology, Shanghai Frontiers Science Research Base of Intelligent Optoelectronics and Perception, Institute of Optoelectronics, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. [email protected]
  12. 12Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Extreme Environment Functional Materials, Yiwu Research Institute of Fudan University, Yiwu, China. [email protected]
  13. 13Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain
  14. 14Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Barcelona, Spain
  15. 15Acoustic Robotics Systems Lab, ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research, Faculty of Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
  16. 16Acoustics Robotics Systems Lab (ARSL), ETH-Zürich, Rüschlikon, Switzerland
  17. 17Departament de Ciència dels Materials i Química Física Institut de Química Teòrica i Computacional, University of Barcelona, Barcelona 08028, Spain
  18. 18Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Pg. Lluís Companys 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain
  19. 19Departament de Ciència dels Materials i Química Física Institut de Química Teòrica i Computacional, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
  20. 20Department of Pharmaceutics, Wuya College of Innovation, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang, China. [email protected]
  21. 21Multi-Scale Robotics Lab (MSRL), Institute of Robotics & Intelligent Systems (IRIS), ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. [email protected]
  22. 22Department of Molecular Life Sciences, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. [email protected]
  23. 23Multi-Scale Robotics Lab (MSRL), Institute of Robotics & Intelligent Systems (IRIS), ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. [email protected]
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Abstract

Spinal cord injury remains difficult to treat because of the intrinsically limited regenerative capacity of neurons. Although neural progenitor cell (NPC) therapies are promising, inadequate graft survival, uncontrolled differentiation and weak functional integration continue to restrict outcomes. Here we report biohybrid microrobots called NPCbots, fabricated by integrating human-induced pluripotent-stem-cell-derived NPCs with magnetoelectric nanoparticles, enabling wireless magnetic navigation and non-invasive neuronal stimulation. A lab-on-a-chip platform allows scalable fabrication and maintains cell viability and differentiation capacity. In a zebrafish spinal cord injury model, alternating magnetic field stimulation of NPCbots induced rapid in vivo neuronal and astrocytic differentiation, enhanced graft integration at the lesion site, and near-complete recovery of swimming and exploratory behaviours within 3 days. In a non-regenerating murine model of complete spinal cord transection, NPCbots were well tolerated for at least 28 days, localized effectively to the injury site, promoted neural differentiation and resulted in substantial improvements in motor function within 4 weeks. These results demonstrate that magnetically guided NPCbots combined with non-invasive magnetoelectric stimulation promote neural repair and functional recovery in preclinical spinal cord injury models.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{ye2026magnetoelectric,
  title = {{Magnetoelectric microrobots for spinal cord injury regeneration}},
  author = {Hao Ye and Jingjing Zang and Jiawei Zhu and Denis von Arx and Jian Zhao and Vitaly Pustovalov and Minmin Mao and Qiao Tang and Andrea Veciana and Harun Torlakcik and Elric Zhang and Semih Sevim and Roger Sanchis‐Gual and Quan Gao and Xiangzhong Chen and Daniel Ahmed and Maria Victoria Sanchez-Vives and Josep Puigmartí‐Luis and Cong Luo and B.J. Nelson and Stephan C. F. Neuhauss and Salvador Pané},
  journal = {Nature Materials},
  year = {2026},
  month = jun,
  doi = {10.1038/s41563-026-02625-3},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-026-02625-3},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Magnetoelectric microrobots for spinal cord injury regeneration
AU  - Hao Ye
AU  - Jingjing Zang
AU  - Jiawei Zhu
AU  - Denis von Arx
AU  - Jian Zhao
AU  - Vitaly Pustovalov
AU  - Minmin Mao
AU  - Qiao Tang
AU  - Andrea Veciana
AU  - Harun Torlakcik
AU  - Elric Zhang
AU  - Semih Sevim
AU  - Roger Sanchis‐Gual
AU  - Quan Gao
AU  - Xiangzhong Chen
AU  - Daniel Ahmed
AU  - Maria Victoria Sanchez-Vives
AU  - Josep Puigmartí‐Luis
AU  - Cong Luo
AU  - B.J. Nelson
AU  - Stephan C. F. Neuhauss
AU  - Salvador Pané
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/06/02
JO  - Nature Materials
DO  - 10.1038/s41563-026-02625-3
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-026-02625-3
AB  - Spinal cord injury remains difficult to treat because of the intrinsically limited regenerative capacity of neurons. Although neural progenitor cell (NPC) therapies are promising, inadequate graft survival, uncontrolled differentiation and weak functional integration continue to restrict outcomes. Here we report biohybrid microrobots called NPCbots, fabricated by integrating human-induced pluripotent-stem-cell-derived NPCs with magnetoelectric nanoparticles, enabling wireless magnetic navigation and non-invasive neuronal stimulation. A lab-on-a-chip platform allows scalable fabrication and maintains cell viability and differentiation capacity. In a zebrafish spinal cord injury model, alternating magnetic field stimulation of NPCbots induced rapid in vivo neuronal and astrocytic differentiation, enhanced graft integration at the lesion site, and near-complete recovery of swimming and exploratory behaviours within 3 days. In a non-regenerating murine model of complete spinal cord transection, NPCbots were well tolerated for at least 28 days, localized effectively to the injury site, promoted neural differentiation and resulted in substantial improvements in motor function within 4 weeks. These results demonstrate that magnetically guided NPCbots combined with non-invasive magnetoelectric stimulation promote neural repair and functional recovery in preclinical spinal cord injury models.
SN  - 1476-1122
SN  - 1476-4660
ER  -