MIT researchers have developed a mobile vaccine printer that could potentially produce hundreds of vaccine doses in a day, according to a report by MIT News.
Patches with Microneedles
A printer has been developed that creates patches with microneedles containing the vaccine, which can be applied to the skin instead of a traditional injection.
The vaccine dissolves once applied, and the patches can be stored at room temperature for several months.
This technology has the potential to bring vaccines to remote locations without the necessary infrastructure, allowing for on-demand vaccine production.
Researchers at MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research have successfully used the printer to produce Covid-19 RNA vaccines that generate a similar immune response to injected RNA vaccines in mice.
Motivated by the need to respond quickly to disease outbreaks like Ebola, the researchers aimed to discover a method for on-demand vaccine production.
They focused on a unique approach to vaccine delivery using thumbnail-sized patches with hundreds of microneedles, which are currently being developed for a variety of diseases, such as measles, rubella, and polio.
When the patch is applied to the skin, the microneedles dissolve under the skin, delivering the vaccine. The printer "inks" are RNA vaccine molecules enclosed in lipid nanoparticles, which increase their stability over time.
Additionally, the inks contain polymers that can be shaped easily and remain stable for weeks or even months at room temperature.
The microneedle molds in the printer are filled with ink by a robotic arm, and a vacuum chamber is used to ensure that the ink reaches the tips of the needles.
The molds are left to dry for one to two days before the patches are ready. At present, the printer can produce 100 patches within 48 hours, but the researchers predict that future models will have a greater production capacity.
Long-term Stability Test
The researchers tested the long-term stability of the vaccines by creating an ink containing RNA encoding luciferase and storing the microneedle patches at different temperatures for up to six months.
The patches induced a strong response when applied to mice under all storage conditions. They also tested their Covid-19 microneedle vaccine and found that mice vaccinated with the microneedle patch had a similar response to mice vaccinated with a traditional, injected RNA vaccine.
The microneedle patches stored at room temperature for up to three months also elicited a strong antibody response.
The researchers claim that the portable vaccine printer is small enough to fit on a table and can be transported to remote areas, refugee camps, or military bases to quickly vaccinate large groups of people.
"If, for example, there was an Ebola outbreak in a particular region, one could ship a few of these printers there and vaccinate the people in that location," said Ana Jaklenec, a research scientist at MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research.
The findings of the work were published in Nature Biotechnology.
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