A novel pulsed microjet system engineered to deliver protein drugs into the skin without the pain or bruising that deeper penetration injection systems cause has been developed by a team of University of California - Santa Barbara (UCSB) researchers, in collaboration with colleagues from UC Berkeley and StrataGent Life Sciences (Los Gatos, California).

According to Samir Mitragotri, a professor of chemical engineering at UCSB and a lead author of the paper:

"The microjet system delivers precise doses into superficial skin layers, thereby mitigating pain. The system was designed as an alternative to the macro-scale systems that had been causing pain and bruising.

We realized that we had to find a way to stop the jets from going deep into the skin. Speeding the delivery, combined with using extremely small jet diameters and less liquid per pulsation, was shown to be more effective."

Needle-free delivery of vaccines has been identified as one of the significant emerging challenges in global health as there are currently a 12 billion needle injections are performed every year for the delivery of vaccines and protein therapeutics such as insulin, growth hormone and erythropoietin (a red blood cell booster).

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[Photo Credit: CDC]