ABSTRACT: Micromotors/robots extend the reach of robotic operations to submillimeter dimensions and are becoming increasingly powerful for various tasks, such as the manipulation of micro/nanoscale cargo and single-cell analysis. These microrobots have the potential to further advance diagnostic testing and sample analysis, offering the benefits of traditional lab-on-a-chip devices (e.g., portability, efficiency) while overcoming current challenges (e.g., complexity, predetermined design, fluid control). Our recent findings have highlighted the unique advantage of using an electric field to enable unified, label-free, and selective micromotor-based cargo manipulation and transport [1,2]. Additionally, we have demonstrated the capability of electrically powered micromotors to (a) carry organelles or cells, (b) electro-deform cells as a novel means of biomechanical testing, and (c) electroporate cells for the transfection of drugs/genes [1]. Recently, the addition of magnetic field actuation has been shown to enable the operation of such hybrid-powered microrobots under near-physiological media conditions required for single-cell analysis [2]. Furthermore, optoelectronic control has been shown [3] to enable trajectory reconfiguration, directed self-assembly, and the parallelized operation of many such microrobots

BIOSKETCH: Gilad Yossifon is a Professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at Tel-Aviv University and heads the µ/nano-fluidics and robotics laboratory. He completed his PhD at Tel-Aviv University in 2008, and earned his MSc (1999) and BSc (1994, Summa Cum Laude) in Mechanical Engineering from the Technion. Additionally, he obtained an MSc in Electrical Engineering from Tel-Aviv University in 2003. From 2007 to 2009, he was a postdoctoral research associate in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department at the University of Notre Dame. He served as an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Technion – I.I.T. from 2009 to 2021, and has been a full Professor at Tel-Aviv University since 2021. His research focuses on electrokinetics in micro-/nano-fluidics, active (self-propelling) particles, micro-/nano-robots, and lab-on-a-chip devices