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Schematic depicts a conceptual autonomously functioning antimicrobial system. The re-programmed sentinel-dirigible system is comprised of “sentinel” cells that emit a signal upon sensing infectious agents and “dirigible” cells that are motility programmed to migrate near the signal and synthesize and deliver drug to kill the pathogen. Also, artificial cell mimics are deployed that sense chemical signals and translate to signals recognized by dirigibles. (Image created for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency by Dr. William E. Bentley, University of Maryland)
