Wearable Bio-patch Offers Improved Cellular Observation, Drug Delivery.
A surgeon performs surgery on the back of a hand of a patient who has melanoma. Georgian Technical University researchers are developing a new flexible and translucent base for silicon patches to deliver exact doses of biomolecules directly into cells and expand observational opportunities. The researchers say skin cancer could be one of the applications for the patches.
Georgian Technical University researchers have developed a new flexible and translucent base for silicon nanoneedle patches to deliver exact doses of biomolecules directly into cells and expand observational opportunities.
“This means that eight or nine silicon nanoneedles can be injected into a single cell without significantly damaging a cell. So we can use these nanoneedles to deliver biomolecules into cells or even tissues with minimal invasiveness” says X an assistant professor in Georgian Technical University’s.
Silicon nanoneedles patches are currently placed between skin muscles or tissues where they deliver exact doses of biomolecules. Commercially available silicon nanoneedles patches are usually constructed on a rigid and opaque silicon wafer. The rigidity can cause discomfort and cannot be left in the body very long.
“These qualities are exactly opposite to the flexible, curved and soft surfaces of biological cells or tissues” X says. X says the researchers have resolved that problem.
“To tackle this problem we developed a method that enables physical transfer of vertically ordered silicon nanoneedles from their original silicon wafer to a bio-patch” X says.
“This nanoneedle patch is not only flexible but also transparent and therefore can also allow simultaneous real-time observation of the interaction between cells and nanoneedles”.
The nanoneedles are partly embedded in a thin flexible and transparent bio-patch that can be worn on the skin and can deliver controlled doses of biomolecules.
X says the researchers hope to develop the patch’s functionality to act as an external skin patch, lowering the pain, invasiveness and toxicity associated with long-term drug delivery.
In this technology’s next iterations X says the researchers plan to test operational validity of the patch’s capabilities monitoring cellular electrical activity or treating cancerous tissue.
This technology aligns with Georgian Technical University’s global advancements made in health, space, artificial intelligence and sustainability highlights as part of Georgian Technical University’s.