Rutgers: Electrospray Coating Microneedles for DNA Vaccine Delivery
- Ray Sullivan
- May 5
- 2 min read
Microneedle arrays are a minimally invasive and promising alternative to traditional hypodermic needles for drug and vaccine delivery. Their short length (hundreds of microns) allows them to penetrate the epidermis, a region rich in antigen-presenting cells, potentially leading to dose-sparing and stronger immune responses compared to intramuscular injections. They can significantly reduce pain, improving patient compliance. A team from Rutgers Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, led by Jonathan Singer’s Hybrid Micro/Nanomanufacturing Lab, explored the use of electrospray deposition as a highly efficient and low-waste method for coating microneedle arrays with a Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) DNA vaccine. Compared to traditional coating methods like dip coating or inkjet printing, electrospray deposition offers nearly 100% deposition efficiency by precisely targeting charged droplets onto a grounded substrate. The study successfully demonstrates that electrospray deposition can be used to coat microneedle arrays with functional plasmid DNA, showing comparable protein expression in vitro (HEK293T cells) and in vivo (rat skin) to traditional methods and stock plasmid. The inclusion of excipients (trehalose and polystyrene-block-polyacrylic acid) in the coating formulation qualitatively improved the dispersion of the vaccine and enhanced the viscoelastic properties of the coating, potentially leading to better insertion and release from the needles. While the immune response was not quantified, preliminary in vivo results in rats indicate protein expression in response to the MERS-CoV DNA vaccine delivered via electrospray deposition-coated microneedle arrays. This technology holds significant promise for cost-effective and efficient transdermal vaccine and therapeutic delivery, particularly in resource-limited settings.
Park SH, Shah IR, Jhumur NC, Mo Y, Tendolkar S, Lallow EO, Shan JW, Zahn JD, Maslow JN, Pelegri AA, Lin H, Shreiber DI, Singer JP. Microneedle arrays coated with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus DNA vaccine via electrospray deposition. Soft Matter. 2025 Apr 30;21(17):3207-3214. doi: 10.1039/d4sm01322k. PMID: 40151993.
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