Four-dimensional reconfigurable vascular tunneling machine of spatially programmed liquid crystal elastomers
Yi Li, Yuan Gao, Yifei Li, Naiyu Guan, Zizheng Wang, Yongyu Lu, Weiqiang Hong, Chuchao Wang, Zeshi Yang, Ran Yang, Jingran Wang, Tao Li, Shize Sun, Lei Zhang, Jining Sun, Xu Guo, Zhaoqian Xie, Yuchen Cai, Dan Ge, Mengxi Wu, Junshan Liu · 2026
Read Four-dimensional reconfigurable vascular tunneling machine of spatially programmed liquid crystal elastomers by Yi Li, Yuan Gao, Yifei Li, Naiyu Guan, Zizheng Wang, Yongyu Lu, Weiqiang Hong, Chuchao Wang, Zeshi Yang, Ran Yang, Jingran Wang, Tao Li, Shize Sun, Lei Zhang, Jining Sun, Xu Guo, Zhaoqian Xie, Yuchen Cai, Dan Ge, Mengxi Wu, Junshan Liu (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13385859.txt.
Description
Yi Li and co-authors build a tiny machine that can tunnel through blood clots. Their 2026 paper tackles clots in winding vessels, where drugs work slowly and stiff tools adapt poorly. Their device is made from liquid crystal elastomers, materials that change shape with heat. It turns and stretches at once, like a shipworm boring through wood.
Magnetic liquid metal inside lets the device reshape by remote heating in about 20 seconds. The heat rise is small and even, which keeps the process safe. In a model brain artery, the machine moved in a controlled way. It broke up clot-like samples across a wide stiffness range and could retrieve pieces. Safety tests on cells and blood looked good.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Yi Li, Yuan Gao, Yifei Li, Naiyu Guan, Zizheng Wang, Yongyu Lu, Weiqiang Hong, Chuchao Wang, Zeshi Yang, Ran Yang, Jingran Wang, Tao Li, Shize Sun, Lei Zhang, Jining Sun, Xu Guo, Zhaoqian Xie, Yuchen Cai, Dan Ge, Mengxi Wu, Junshan Liu |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 49 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |