# Autonomous Grippers in the Gastrointestinal Tract

> **NIH NIH R01** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $490,924

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Long-term controlled release of drugs has been a problem tackled by medical practitioners, scientists and
engineers alike for the past two or three decades. Despite significant efforts in the field, and the introduction of
several inventions to the pharmaceutical market, the field suffers from the lack of a technique that involves easy
delivery to the gastrointestinal tract (either oral or rectal route), while promising delivery of a drug over several
days to weeks. A long lasting delivery mechanism has eluded scientists and engineers over years and is still a
topic of active research. Here we propose to continue the development of an innovative method, in which
mechanical gripping to the mucosal tissue is used to improve residence time in the GI tract. The mechanical
module is tied to a cargo carrying a drug and the formulation can be administered orally or rectally without any
expert help. The method will be extremely favorable to improve adherence and compliance to medicine
regimens, thus significantly reducing avoidable and unwanted hospitalization.
The gripping mechanism that we plan to utilize to improve retention to the gastrointestinal tract, is based on
wireless actuation of self-folding robots, that can be engineered to function on administration to the
gastrointestinal tract, in an autonomous fashion. We are the forerunners in the field of actuation of miniaturized
robots, without any external power source, and have demonstrated the usefulness of these robotic submillimeter
scale structures to carry out biopsy in the biliary tree of live pigs. Here we build on our previous results and
introduce a drug carrying cargo on the grippers, such that they can be left inside the GI tract for a prolonged
duration of one to several days, to maintain the required concentration of the drug for therapy. Along with the
development of systemic delivery modules, the proposal also includes the development of techniques to
engineer the adhesion of the gripping modules to soft friable tissues, thus promoting the local therapy of cancer.
Our highly interdisciplinary team which involves gastroenterologists, engineers and pharmacologists, seek to
test these hypotheses in a pig model, that has a similar GI model as humans. In particular we will deliver
therapeutic dosage of an analgesic rectally, to achieve release of the drug in the blood plasma of the animal,
over several days. The theragrippers and similar devices that can potentially latch onto the mucosal lining, will
also be tested on an ulcerative colitis model in pigs to ensure the release of anti-inflammatory drugs like
mesalamine.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9984347
- **Project number:** 5R01EB017742-07
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** David H Gracias
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $490,924
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2014-09-26 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9984347

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9984347, Autonomous Grippers in the Gastrointestinal Tract (5R01EB017742-07). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9984347. Licensed CC0.

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