< Back to previous page

Project

MIRACLE: autonomous microfluidic patch for plasmid-based vaccine

Vaccines are a powerful and irreplaceable tool that saved millions of lives since the invention of smallpox vaccine back in 1796. Vaccines rely on cold chain or do not have sufficient immunization plus they are still injected via painful intramuscular shots done by trained operator. This poses a challenge mostly in developing countries where trained personnel is not ubiquitous and risk of infections due to needle disposal is high, resulting in an alarming number of over 3 million deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases. In the MIRACLE project we aim to revolutionize the way vaccines are engineered, stored and delivered by developing a user-friendly and autonomous microfluidic patch for painless delivery of a revolutionary vaccine. This will be achieved by merging together three innovative concepts: (1) Yellow Fever plasmid based vaccine development, (2) microfluidic patch technology capable of vaccine manipulation in a self-powered manner and (3) microfabrication of a hollow microneedle array to enable painless intradermal injection of vaccines. By sticking the patch on the skin, the patch will be activated allowing self-injection. Via the integrated painless microneedles array, the system delivers tunable volumes of vaccine with no dead volumes and the possibility to do vaccine reconstitution on chip minimizes reconstitution error and lowers the cost. This project will be realized by an interdisciplinary consortium of research teams from 4 different departments within the groups of Science, Engineering and Technology and Biomedical Sciences.
Date:1 Oct 2020 →  Today
Keywords:Vaccine, Microfluidics, Microneedles, Microfabrication, Drug delivery
Disciplines:Biosensors, Microfluidics/flow chemistry, Biomaterials, Microfabrication and manufacturing, Applied immunology