Skip the needle: Use the Nanopatch

William Atkins
Tuesday, 27 July 2010 22:23

Science - Health

Australian researchers have developed a way to inject vaccines into the skin without using a needle. They have invented the Nanopatch, which uses tiny, dissolving micro-projections. Neat, and no more "ouch".

 

Anyone can use the micro-nanoprojection array patch (Nanopatch) technology safely without the risk of injuries that often comes with the stick of a needle.

Dr. Mark A. F. Kendall led a group of researchers from the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

Kendall's website talks about the new invention: 'This is a patch with thousands of tiny projections - invisible to the human eye - dry-coated in biomolecules. When the patch is placed against the skin, these projections push through the outer skin layer and deliver the biomolecules precisely to the target cells.'

The results of the paper have been published in the journal Small. Dated July 21, 2010, the paper is entitled 'Targeted, Needle-Free Vaccinations in Skin using Multilayered, Densely-Packed Dissolving Microprojection Arrays' (DOI: 10.1002/smll.201000326).

The other authors of the study include Anthony P. Raphael, Tarl W. Prow, Michael L. Crichton, Xianfeng Chen, and Germain J. P. Fernando.

They state in the abstract to their paper that their new nanopatch does the following: 'Targeting of vaccines to abundant immune cell populations within our outer thin skin layers using miniaturized devices - much thinner than a needle and syringe, could improve the efficacy of vaccines (and other immunotherapies)."

The nanopatch is a 'densely packed dissolving microprojection array (dissolving Nanopatch)' that is designed to use small microneedles that are two times smaller than a standard needle and syringe.

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