Dual duty microneedles

A new Jaklenec lab study published in Nature Materials demonstrates novel microneedle patches that can be applied to the skin to deliver mRNA drugs and store billions of bits of anonymous and reliable information. This technology could be used to enhance healthcare in low resource settings, while addressing critical challenges related to  reliability and privacy of traditional paper and digital database systems for patient information.

Medicines often require timed series of doses, the administration of which must be informed by accurate records. In many global settings, such records are unreliable or unavailable at the point of care, leading to less effective disease treatment or prevention.

Building on previous microneedle designs developed by the Jaklenec lab, the new microneedle patches deliver medicines directly via the skin, like a nicotine or heart medicine patch. Releasing an imaging-grade dye, invisible to the naked eye, in a pattern that can encode billions of bits of information while preserving patient data privacy and anonymity. The specially patterned dye particles can easily be read by healthcare workers using safe near-infrared light to decode information contained within.

This microneedle design could help doctors and healthcare workers make informed decisions in circumstances where reliable dosing records are unavailable and support next-dose decisions without requiring internet connectivity or use of centralized databases.