Significance: A full understanding of sensorimotor transformation during complex behaviors requires quantifying brainwide dynamics of behaving animals. Here, we characterize brainwide dynamics of individual nematodes exposed to a defined thermosensory input. We show that it is possible to uncover representations of sensory input and motor output in individual neurons of behaving animals. Panneuronal imaging in roaming animals will facilitate systems neuroscience in behaving Caenorhabditis elegans .

Robotic micromanipulation is a relatively young field. However, after three decades of development and evolution, the fundamental physics; techniques for sensing, actuation, and control; tool sets and systems; and, more importantly, a research community are now in place. This article reviews the fundamentals of robotic micromanipulation, including how micromanipulators and end effectors are actuated and controlled, how remote physical fields are utilized for micromanipulation, how visual servoing is implemented under an optical microscope, how force is sensed and controlled at the micro- and nanonewton levels, and the similarities and differences between robotic manipulation at the micro- and macroscales. We also review representative milestones over the past three decades and discuss potential future trends of this field.

A platform technology for magnetic manipulation and measurement substantially improves intracellular navigation and characterization.

Inspired by the collective intelligence in natural swarms, microrobotic agents have been controlled to form artificial swarms for targeted drug delivery, enhanced imaging, and hyperthermia. Different from these well-investigated tasks, this work aims to develop microrobotic swarms for embolization, which is a clinical technique used to block blood vessels for treating tumors, fistulas, and arteriovenous malformations. Magnetic particle swarms were formed for selective embolization to address the low selectivity of the present embolization technique that is prone to cause complications such as stroke and blindness. We established an analytical model that describes the relationships between fluid viscosity, flow rate, branching angle, magnetic field strength, and swarm integrity, based on which an actuation strategy was developed to maintain the swarm integrity inside a targeted region under fluidic flow conditions. Experiments in microfluidic channels, ex vivo tissues, and in vivo porcine kidneys validated the efficacy of the proposed strategy for selective embolization.

Extracellular forces transmitted through the cytoskeleton can deform the cell nucleus. Large nuclear deformations increase the risk of disrupting the integrity of the nuclear envelope and causing DNA damage. The mechanical stability of the nucleus defines its capability to maintain nuclear shape by minimizing nuclear deformation and allowing strain to be minimized when deformed. Understanding the deformation and recovery behavior of the nucleus requires characterization of nuclear viscoelastic properties. Here, we quantified the decoupled viscoelastic parameters of the cell membrane, cytoskeleton, and the nucleus. The results indicate that the cytoskeleton enhances nuclear mechanical stability by lowering the effective deformability of the nucleus while maintaining nuclear sensitivity to mechanical stimuli. Additionally, the cytoskeleton decreases the strain energy release rate of the nucleus and might thus prevent shape change-induced structural damage to chromatin.