Hochschule Karlsruhe – Technik und Wirtschaft

3 March 2011

Interdisciplinary research

Mini-submarine combats cancer in human blood vessels: visionary development project of Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences introduced at Ars Electronica Center in Austria in March 2011

“Art, technology and society” is the credo of the “Ars Electronica”, a world-wide unique platform for digital arts and media culture. The Ars Electronica Center in Linz (Austria) was re-opened in 2009 and since then has seen 390 000 visitors.

The main exhibit “New images of people” deals with the emerging trends in life sciences and how scientific discoveries change the way we see the world and its people. Part of this exhibit includes the RoboLab that was redesigned in March 2011. In “Robotinity” the Ars Electonica Center addresses the increasing rapprochement and merger between man and machine. Particularly in the field of medicine, ground-breaking achievements in connecting man and machine have lead to a new quality of life.

The “Nautilos” project is also part of the new, large-scale presentation. “Nautilos” stands for “nearly self-injectable opto-fluidic system”– and is a resemblance to the Greek nautilus and the name of a submarine in various novels by Jules Verne. It is part of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christian Karnutsch’s visionary development work at Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences. Prof. Karnutsch teaches at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology and is establishing the new Institute for Optofluidics and Integrated Nanophotonics (IONAS). His research approach is aimed at developing, improving and specifically at miniaturizing biomedical sensor systems. “The miniaturization plays a major role as it largely determines the potential areas of application”, says Prof. Christian Karnutsch and explains: “A simple example: If the CD-player in your car would take up a whole passenger’s seat, would you still want to use it in the car?”

The miniature submarine “Nautilos” developed by Prof. Christian Karnutsch is meant to be deployed in human blood vessels for cancer therapy. With the aid of optical methods, it can continuously examine the patient’s blood and its on-board laser can e.g. be used to defang viruses or cancer cells. This means Nautilos requires three main components that together must not be any larger than 1 mm: its drive train and communication unit, the diagnostic system and the therapeutic system. “Several elements of Nautilos, e.g. the drive or navigation system are basically already available thanks to microsystem technology”, says Prof. Karnutsch, “Our task now lies in the further miniaturization of these systems. And this is a great scientific challenge, especially concerning the key component of Nautilos – its biomedical diagnosis unit which is meant to detect the cancer cells. The state of today’s technology, however, gives hope to believe that within 20 to 25 years we’ll be able to produce the first mini-submarine to fight cancer in human blood vessels.”

Nautilos research work and development is performed at the Institute for Optofluidics and Integrated Nanophotonics of the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences – This is a fact our students benefit from. During their studies they gain insight into the new fields of work and research in micro and nano technology, biotechnology and materials science”, emphasizes President Prof. Dr. Karl-Heinz Meisel and adds “after graduation they’ll be demanded specialists and carry these innovative methods and technologies into the industry.”

A short video about the project by the 3sat Future Magazine "nano – World of Tomorrow" is available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU-efJhrlDY&feature=player_embedded