This Startup Is Turning Sci-Fi Nanobots Into Real-World Tools For Health Treatments

Dental hypersensitivity is a common problem among Indians, affecting between 20% and 32% of the Indian population, and current solutions only include desensitising toothpaste, gels, or liquids that may not be too adept in eradicating the root of the issue.

Now, imagine microscopic robots, each a fraction of the width of a human hair, deployed inside a patient’s mouth to deliver targeted treatments just for that. 

This is exactly what Bengaluru-based deeptech startup Theranautilus is trying to achieve, offering oral & dental treatments with the help of nanobots. Yes, you read it right — nanobots.

Now, before we get to exploring how Theranautilus is using its magic bots to treat dental ailments among Indians, let’s learn more about the startup, which seems to be stirring a revolution in the realm of Indian dentistry.

Incubated at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and founded in 2020, Theranautilus is developing magnetic nanorobots that can be precisely controlled inside the human body using external magnetic fields.

The startup’s vision is hidden in its name. While ‘Thera’ stands for therapeutic, ‘Nautilus’ is the name of a submarine, helmed by Captain Nemo, a character created by the French novelist Jules Verne. Put together, the name represents a submarine with therapeutic abilities that can navigate fluids inside the human body.

At the captain’s seat is the trio of scientists and engineers — professor Ambarish Ghosh, a physicist who returned to India after working at Harvard; Dr Peddi Shanmukh Srinivas, a trained dentist; and Debayan Dasgupta, an engineer. 

But, this alliance, called Theranautilus, did not happen overnight and had been in the works for over a decade.

Theranautilus’ Sci-Fi Solution To Tooth Decay

The trio of cofounders told Inc42 that they have been working on their nanobots for the last 15 years. This includes Ghosh’s work at Harvard before he returned to India to continue his research at the IISc.

According to Ghosh, what began as a pure science experiment evolved into something much more significant once the team started demonstrating its ability to move tiny objects, which led to the realisation that their research could have many practical applications. 

Being a dentist, Srinivas, who has bigger plans to change the face of the Indian health space, initially thought of a single 10-minute treatment that rebuilds damaged tooth tissue from within, providing lasting relief without ongoing maintenance. 

“There are certain anatomical features in the tooth where there is loss of enamel or gum recession, and we can rebuild a tooth-like material inside. It’s like nano engineers, nano surgeons going in and building a part of the tooth that is lost,” CEO Srinivas said. 

Theranautilus raised $1.2 Mn in seed funding last year from pi Ventures, Golden Sparrow Ventures, and angel investors, including Tracxn’s founder and CEO Abhishek Goyal and Groww’s Lalit Keshre to scale the business.

The company plans to offer its products in two categories — for over-the-counter use by patients with mild to moderate hypersensitivity cases and for dental offices to treat severe cases.

Priced at around INR 2,500 per unit, the product aims to be competitive with existing treatments while offering a dramatically improved patient experience and long-term cost savings.

Engineering Nanobots To Fix Tooth Damage

Primarily composed of food-grade silica (the same material used as an anti-caking agent in cereals) with some amount of iron, each of Theranautilus’ nanorobots is a small sphere with magnetic properties inside and specific chemicals on the outside. 

These bots can be guided to form chains that move at high speeds inside microscopic tunnels within the body such as dentin tubules, microscopic channels that run through the middle layer of the tooth.

“You can imagine them talking to each other magnetically and moving forward to form little chains. Once this chain of particles is formed inside your tooth, a little chemical reaction starts happening around this chain and effectively, a little bone gets developed,” said Ghosh.

He claimed that the precision of this movement is so remarkable that these nanodevices can travel between two points covering a distance that is shorter than the thickness of a human hair. 

The startup has already conducted extensive animal trials, finding its nanorobots to be completely nontoxic at a cell level for animals. It is now preparing for human clinical trials. 

Its nanobots have been categorised as “generally regarded as safe” (GRAS) by the FDA, alleviating safety concerns for internal medical use.

Betting Licensing To Scale Its Nanobot Tech Globally

Theranautilus plans to enter the market on the back of a licensing model — similar to how companies like Intel make IPs and license them to global companies.

According to Srinivas, the strategy would allow Theranautilus to focus on its core strength of developing cutting-edge nanorobot technology while leveraging the market presence and distribution networks of established healthcare companies.

This has started attracting significant interest in the market, and four Fortune 100 companies have initiated discussions about potential partnerships or licensing agreements. 

As of now, to fuel its ambitions, Theranautilus is using its seed funding to build an ISO-certified globally dedicated manufacturing facility to scale up the production of nanorobots — transitioning from producing in milligrams to manufacturing at scale for commercial applications. 

However, this transition won’t be easy. Srinivas and his team face a mammoth task of not just manufacturing at scale and quality maintenance but also packaging it and giving clinics access to their tech.

Theranautilus’ Nanotech War Against Cancer

While Theranautilus has started with dental applications, its ambitions extend far beyond oral healthcare. The company envisions its nanorobot technology addressing multiple medical conditions, with cancer topping its priority list.

In cancer applications, nanorobots can deliver therapeutic agents directly to tumour sites, minimising damage to healthy tissue. 

According to Ghosh, the biggest challenge in cancer treatment is delivering drugs directly to the tumour without affecting healthy tissue. 

“If we program these little particles, which can carry drugs, in a way that they go towards the tumour and infiltrate inside the tumour, then they can deliver the drugs locally and only cause harm to the cancer cells as opposed to the normal cells,” he said.

But, the biggest challenge for the company currently lies in convincing people to accept microscopic robots as a treatment option. This is primarily why the company has started with dental applications, which are less invasive and have lower regulatory hurdles than more complex interventions.

“We are in for the long game. We’ll go slowly from very non-invasive, very commonly present problems so we can relate with people. Then we will build that trust and take it further,” said Srinivas. 

In the near term (next three to four months), Theranautilus has plans to commence human clinical trials for its dental applications. This trial will be done on 300 patients. Following this, the cofounders anticipate to begin commercial production by 2026.

As Theranautilus moves toward human trials and eventual commercialisation, it stands at the frontier of what’s possible in medicine — navigating not just the microscopic tunnels inside our bodies, but also charting a course for how nanotechnology could reshape healthcare delivery for generations to come.

While it remains to be seen if the startup succeeds in scaling its nanorobots from the lab to widespread clinical use, Theranautilus’ potential to revolutionise healthcare is undeniable.