New skin patches can be used instead of needles to vaccinate people.

Who likes injections? Most people don't like it.

From the University of Queensland (University of Queensland) Mark Kendall also does not love, so he created a nano patch, a new method is provided to vaccinate people, perhaps this method can end the history of injection for 160 years.

What is nano patch?

It was as big as a stamp, and it was covered with thousands of tiny needles. If you count carefully, you will find that there are about twenty thousand syringes per square centimeter, each syringe about 60-100 microns, almost the same as the diameter of the hair.

The patch is made using a technique called deep reactive ion etching. Now we are able to control the surface of ions or charged atoms selectively etching the material in the electric field. After the high precision control of the electric field and the ion, the three-dimensional structure has been etched on the patch.

This technology has an advantage, it has been used in a large number of circuit boards and solar equipment, it is easy to expand the scale of production. Another point, the patch can be successfully produced, thanks to the progress of nano manufacturing process, it is difficult to imagine the scale of 1/1000000000 meters to make such a delicate needle.

How to deliver vaccine

The tiny tip in the patch is invisible to the naked eye, but it is long enough to pierce the cuticle and reach the inside of the human body. The cuticle is a layer of dead cells, located in the outermost layer of our skin, can prevent skin dehydration, but also to prevent us from being infected by other bacteria or viruses.

The tip of the nano patch penetrates through the stratum corneum to directly reach the living cell layer, the epidermis and the dermis. There are different types of immune cells in the epidermis, which can stimulate immune cells and produce immune responses by passing them on to them. Now, we have been able to use the vaccine with a vaccine that is linked to diseases such as influenza, polio, cholera and so on.

Mark Kendall and colleagues also said that the use of this vaccine is only 1/10 of the traditional injection method to 1/13, can greatly reduce the amount of vaccine use.

Is it true that the injection method can be replaced by a nano patch? This should be the direction of development, because at least 10% of the population have injection phobia, vaccination is also very inconsistent. In addition, according to WHO estimates, every year because of acupuncture and cross contamination caused by medical problems, at least 1 million 300 thousand people will lose their lives.

There is an obvious problem with the injection method. Today, many of the vaccines from the manufacturer to the user need to transport the hands, through the cold preservation, this also caused a lot of trouble, if the lack of refrigeration facilities, or to transport vaccine to remote rural areas, the vaccine can easily because the intermediate links of a problem, caused by the failure phenomenon.

Nano patch can reduce our dependence on the refrigerator, dry vaccine can be fixed on the patch of tiny tip. In this way, the vaccine can maintain the activity period of 6 months even at room temperature. Other types of vaccines will lose their activity within a few hours after the loss of protection.

Vaccine revolution

We have seen a very significant change in the way the vaccine delivery. The technology is also effective in reducing the potential cost of vaccination, allowing the vaccine to be better used in a more demanding environment.

However, this is not just a good idea. Mark Kendall and his colleagues have launched a human trial, and WHO is planning to test the polio vaccine in Cuba in 2017.

In 1853, the medical profession has a patent on injection, since then, the design in the medical industry has occupied an unshakable position. Today, it is possible to replace it, the end of the 160 year history of injection.