Researchers at the University of Campinas’s Chemistry
Institute (IQ-UNICAMP) in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, have
developed a template-free technique to fabricate cilia of different
sizes that mimic biological functions and have multiple
applications, from directing fluids in microchannels to loading
material into a cell, for example. The highly flexible cilia are
based on polymer-coated iron oxide nanoparticles, and their motion
can be controlled by a magnet.