The European Research Council (ERC) has added University of Twente scientist Sarthak Misra to its 2019 list of Consolidator Grant winners. The biomechanical engineering professor will be awarded 2.35 million euros for his Magneto-Acoustically Engineered Steerable Robots project (Maestro), in which he’ll further expand on his research on developing novel steerable instruments for minimally invasive surgery. Misra has already won several grants for his work (link in Dutch).
The goal of Maestro is to design a magneto-acoustic robotic system that can precisely deliver a wide range of diagnostic and therapeutic micro-agents using ultrasound and fluorescence images. “A novel probe and micro-agents will be designed and evaluated in clinically relevant scenarios with realistic physiological functionalities,” says Misra. The knowledge gained will be applicable to a collection of flexible instruments.