Abstract: Robots at the micro/nanoscale, termed micro/nanorobots, have the advantage of accessing small and hard-to-reach spaces within the human body. While extensive research has shown their applications for drug delivery, it is much less explored whether microrobots can be directly used to understand and treat disease. Dr. Xian Wang’s research talk will focus on two aspects of microrobot’s applications: one on exploring the tumor cell biology knowledge that wasn’t able to be deciphered due to the lack of tool; the other on developing novel tumor treatment approaches based on the mechanical stimulation generated by the magnetic mico/nano robotic agents. These contributions have made crucial advancements for translating microrobotic techniques from the lab to the world.
Bio: Prof. Xian Wang is an assistant professor at the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Queen’s University. His research interests focus on developing small-scale medical robotics. During his Ph.D. study at University of Toronto, he developed micro/nano robotic platform technologies to study the mechanical properties of cells and tissue. As a research fellow at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) from 2020 to 2023, he explored using external-controlled microrobots to cause mechanical ablation of brain tumors. Dr. Wang has published over 30 journal papers, in engineering journals such as Science Robotics, Science Advances, IEEE Transactions on Robotics, and Biosensors and Bioelectronics. His work has been awarded the Best Paper in Automation Award in ICRA 2019, “Outstanding Paper Award” by Springer Nature, and covered by over 20 news outlets. To acknowledge the excellence in research, Dr. Wang was awarded the Lap-Chee Tsui Fellowship (one in SickKids, with research funding), the Brain Tumour Association of Canada Research Fellowship (one in Canada, with research funding), and the Hopper-Belmont Foundation Inspiration Award (the first Canadian scientist to win this prestigious early-career award).