A Microscopic Submarine in My Blood Science Based on Fantastic Voyage

This book describes at the introductory level how modern technology has made the scenario of the classic science-fiction movie Fantastic Voyage a reality. The movie is about a submarine and its crew members being shrunk to microscopic size and ventured into the body. Exactly 50 years following the release of the film, such reality takes the form of a medical interventional room capable of mimicking this scenario. Based on 15 years of intensive research and development by the world-leading team in this specific field, the book goes through the scenes of the movie while explaining how it is implemented in this first-of-a-kind interventional facility. This is the first book that explains the fundamentals of navigation of therapeutic agents in the vascular network. The scope of the book is twofold: (1) to initiate readers into various technologies, including, but not limited to, nanotechnology, robotics, and biochemistry (more importantly, it shows how critical the integration of all these disciplines is to solving problems that indeed require a multidisciplinary environment); (2) to inspire the younger generation by showing that science and technology can bring one everywhere with the power to transform fiction to reality that can help humankind.

Introduction The Location Landing at Los Angeles Airport (Scene 00:00:48–00:01:05) Transiting from the Airport to the Facility by Car (Scene 00:03:05–00:04:03) Secret Location of the Facility (Scene 00:05:48–00:06:58) Entering the Underground Level (Scene 00:07:00–00:07:15) Transiting through the Underground Floor and Going to the Upper Floor (Scene 00:07:22–00:07:57) Mechanical Stairs and Adjacent Facilities (Scene 00:07:45–00:07:52) Security Desk at the Entrance (Scene 00:07:52–00:08:00) Identification Check (Scene 00:08:00–00:08:17) Transit towards the Facility (Scene 00:08:18–00:08:38) Signs and Security at the Entrance of the Facility (Scene 00:08:38) The Interventional Facility The Preparation Room (Scene 00:08:38–00:09:17) First Look at the Interventional Facility (Scene 00:09:17–00:10:50) Name of the Facility (Scene 00:10:50–00:11:27) Electronic Cabinets (Scene 00:11:48–00:12:00) The Team at the Planning Briefing Maximum Time to Accomplish the Mission (Scene 00:11:35–00:11:38) Goal of the Mission (Scene 00:12:06–00:12:14) A Woman in the Team (Scene 00:12:40–00:13:10) Team Members (Scene 00:13:10–00:13:44) Beginning of the Briefing (Scene 00:13:52–00:14:23) Blood Flow Rate and Its Potential Impact on the Miniature Submarine (Scene 00:14:23–00:14:54) Recovery Route (Scene 00:14:54–00:15:26) Tracking the Position of the Submarine (Scene 00:15:30–00:15:46) Danger of Attack (Scene 00:15:56–00:16:18) Sense of Humor (Scene 00:16:20–00:16:30) The Submarine External View of the Submarine (Scene 00:18:31–00:18:35) Entering the Submarine (Scene 00:18:35–00:19:18) Propulsion Power (Scene 00:19:46–00:20:45) At the Pilot Seat (Scene 00:21:37–00:21:52) Onboard Weapon (Scene 00:21:52–00:23:20) Name of the Submarine (Scene 00:24:50–00:25:00) Miniaturization Phase 1 of the Miniaturization Process (Scene 00:25:05–00:28:10) Phases 2 and 3 of the Miniaturization Process (Scene 00:28:10–00:34:38) Injection Beginning of Injection with a Syringe (Scene 00:37:09–00:37:41) Velocity of the Submarine during the Injection (Scene 00:37:41–00:38:12) Traveling in the Artery Size of Proteus (Scene 00:39:25–00:39:35) One Hundred Thousand Miles Long (Scene 00:40:22–00:40:24) Speed of the Submarine (Scene 00:41:29–00:41:32) Distance to the Next Branching Artery (Scene 00:41:32–00:41:35) Submarine not Responding Due to a Strong Blood Flow (Scene 00:41:35–00:43:25) Tracking the Position of the Submarine Position of the Submarine Being Indicated on a Large Map (Scene 00:45:30–00:45:58) The Tracking System (Scene 00:46:00–00:46:36) The Tracking Position of the Submarine Shown on the Display (Scene 00:46:47–00:47:00) Propulsion and Steering Go with the Flow (Scene 00:47:27–00:47:30) Pulsatile Flow (Scene 00:49:37–00:50:04) Propelling and Steering Systems (Scene 00:50:13–00:50:16) Navigating in the Bloodstream Navigating in Larger Blood Vessels (Scene 00:54:00–00:54:14) Navigating in Narrower Blood Vessels (Scene 00:54:14–00:54:42) The Crew Low in Oxygen (Scene 00:56:00–01:06:56) In the Human Mind (Scene 01:27:11–01:28:26) Crew Members Exiting the Submarine (Scene 01:30:06–01:30:15) Crew Members Swimming towards the Target (Scene 01:30:48–01:31:07) Armed Crew Member (Scene 01:31:16–01:31:30) Destroying the Target by Pointing and Shooting the Laser to the Right Locations (Scene 01:31:30–01:32:32) Proteus Being Attacked by the Body Defense System (Scene 01:34:09–01:35:47)

Sylvain Martel, fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and of the IEEE, is chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on Micro-Nanorobotics and Automation and director of the NanoRobotics Laboratory at Polytechnique Montréal, Campus of the University of Montréal, Canada. He has received many awards, mostly in interdisciplinary research, and is a recipient of a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Medical Nanorobotics. He has developed several biomedical technologies, including platforms for remote surgeries and cardiac mapping systems, at McGill University and new types of brain implants for decoding neuronal activities in the motor cortex at MIT. Among other achievements, Prof. Martel’s research group is also credited for the first demonstration of the controlled navigation of an untethered object in the blood vessel of a living animal. At present, Prof. Martel is leading an interdisciplinary team involved in the development of navigable therapeutic agents and interventional platforms for cancer therapy. This research is based on a new paradigm in drug delivery pioneered by him and is known as direct targeting, where therapeutics are navigated in the vascular network toward solid tumors using the most direct physiological routes. This approach leading to a significant increase of the therapeutic index has been widely featured in The Globe and Mail, MIT Technology Review, New Scientist, The Economist, BBC, and Newsweek.

This book describes at the introductory level how modern technology has made the scenario of the classic science-fiction movie Fantastic Voyage about a submarine and its crew members being shrunk to microscopic size and ventured into the body, a reality. Exactly 50 years following the release of the film, such reality takes the form of a medical interventional room capable of mimicking this scenario. Based on 15 years of intensive research and development by the world-leading team in this specific field, the book goes through the scenes of the movie and while explaining how it is implemented in this first-of-a-kind interventional facility.
The scope of the book is twofold: (1) to initiate readers to various technologies, including, but not limited to, nanotechnology, robotics, and biochemistry (more important, the book shows how critical the integration of all these disciplines is to solve problems that indeed require a multidisciplinary environment); (2) to inspire the younger generation by showing that science and technology can bring you everywhere with the power to transform fiction to reality that can help human kind.
This is the first book that explains the fundamentals of navigation of therapeutic agents in the vascular network.