MIT creates microscopic cups to deliver vaccine doses to kids in one injection

Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-18 12:39:43|Editor: Mengjie
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WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- One single injection carrying several doses of vaccines has become true thanks to the research of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The MIT reported the technical breakthrough on its website of MIT news last week, telling the world their method of creating microscopic coffee cups to realize the idea.

The team made an array of silicon molds to create microscopic cups, which are filled with doses of vaccination.

The cups are made of PLGA, a biocompatible polymer used in prosthetics and implants, which can break down at different rates so that the doses could be delivered at different times.

"We can create a library of tiny, encased vaccine particles, each programmed to release at a precise, predictable time, so that people could potentially receive a single injection that, in effect, would have multiple boosters already built into it," the MIT team leader Robert Langer explained.

According to Langer, the breakthrough could have a significant impact on patients everywhere, especially in the developing world where patient compliance is particularly poor.

The research team is now conducting several more tests using a variety of drugs to make sure their cups can remain intact at body temperature for as long as a few months to a couple of years.

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