Helical nanobots as mechanical probes of intra- and extracellular environments.

A rheological probe that can measure mechanical properties of biological milieu at well-defined locations with high spatial resolution, on a time scale faster than most biological processes, can further improve our understanding of how living systems operate and behave. Here, we demonstrate nanorobots actively driven in realistic ex vivo biological systems for fast mechanical measurements with high spatial accuracy. In the various demonstrations of magnetic nanobots as mechanical probes, we report the first direct observation of the internalization of probes by a living cell, the accurate measurement of the 'fluid phase' cytoplasmic viscosity of ~200 cP for a HeLa cell, demonstration of intracellular measurements in cells derived from human patients; all of which establish the strength of this novel technique for measurements in both intra- and extracellular environments.