Revolutionizing Vaccine Delivery with 3D Printed Microneedle Patches.

Researchers at MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research have developed a mobile vaccine printer that can produce hundreds of vaccine doses in a day. The printer produces patches with hundreds of microneedles containing vaccine, and each patch could be attached to the skin, allowing the vaccine to dissolve without the need for a traditional injection. The researchers showed they could use the printer to produce thermostable Covid-19 RNA vaccines that would be stable in a variety of temperatures and could induce in mice a comparable immune response to that generated by injected RNA vaccines. The researchers plan to adapt the process to produce other types of vaccines, including vaccines made from proteins or inactivated viruses.