A magnetic field guides these robots through blood vessels and tissues to precisely deliver drugs and chemotherapies.

Bionaut Labs is developing micro-scale, magnetically guided robots that deliver biologics or small molecule therapies locally to targeted disease areas to help patients suffering from severe brain disorders. The company raised a $43.2 million Series B round led by Khosla Ventures, bringing the company’s total financing raised to date to $63.2 million. New investors Deep Insight, OurCrowd, PSPRS, Sixty Degree Capital, Dolby Family Ventures, GISEV Family Ventures, What if Ventures, Tintah Grace and Gaingels participated alongside existing investors Upfront Ventures, BOLD Capital Partners, Revolution VC, and Compound. (Businesswire)

Overcoming the blood-brain barrier – how it works

• Bionaut is introduced into the body using standard intrathecal injection needle.
• External magnetic propulsion systems guide the motion of the Bionaut via exerted electromagnetic forces. Automated guidance is tailored for each procedure and patient.
• Each procedure is pre-planned and executed using an automated process.
• Once they reach their destination, such as a deep and difficult brain tumor, they can release a range of different therapeutic payloads—including injectable drugs and chemotherapies previously rebuffed by the blood-brain barrier.
• The Bionaut is guided back to the point of entry for retrieval post procedure, which lasts < 1hr in time.

Robotics entrepreneurs, Michael Shpigelmacher and Aviad Maizels co-founded Bionaut Labs. They previously co-founded PrimeSense, the company that developed the facial recognition tech behind iPhone’s FaceID, and that was sold to Apple in 2013 for approximately $400M.

“As neurodegeneration continues to grow in prevalence in the aging global population, Bionaut Labs offers unprecedented therapeutic access to the brain and other hard-to-reach locations in the body, diagnosing and treating diseases that were previously unreachable,” the company said in a statement. “Bionaut Labs will transform the way the biopharmaceutical industry develops treatments by offering a mechanism to engineer the therapeutic index for optimal efficacy and safety.”

Related Story:  This Tiny Robotic Crab Measures Just Half A Millimeter Wide