Journal Article

On-patient medical record and mRNA therapeutics using intradermal microneedles

Wang, Erika Yan, Murmann, Lukas, Eshaghi, Behnaz, Forster, Timothy A., Lin, Stacey Qiaohui, Levy, Lauren, Karchin, Ari, Zhang, Linzixuan, Pardeshi, Apurva, Pyon, Sydney, Han, Jooli, Bawendi, Moungi G., Carrasco, Sebastian E., Jaklenec, Ana, Barouch, Dan H., Alsaiari, Shahad K., Liu, Yang, Langer, Robert, Sloane, Charles, Daristotle, John L., Tran, Khanh, Folk, Brandon, Perkinson, Collin F., Lau, Alicia, Kanelli, Maria, Durand, Frédo, Tostanoski, Lisa H.

2025

Overview

Medical interventions often require timed series of doses, thus necessitating accurate medical record-keeping. In many global settings, these records are unreliable or unavailable at the point of care, leading to less effective treatments or disease prevention. Here we present an invisible-to-the-naked-eye on-patient medical record-keeping technology that accurately stores medical information in the patient skin as part of microneedles that are used for intradermal therapeutics. We optimize the microneedle design for both a reliable delivery of messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and the near-infrared fluorescent microparticles that encode the on-patient medical record-keeping. Deep learning-based image processing enables encoding and decoding of the information with excellent temporal and spatial robustness. Long-term studies in a swine model demonstrate the safety, efficacy and reliability of this approach for the co-delivery of on-patient medical record-keeping and the mRNA vaccine encoding severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This technology could help healthcare workers make informed decisions in circumstances where reliable record-keeping is unavailable, thus contributing to global healthcare equity. Intradermal microneedles for the co-delivery of mRNA and near-infrared fluorescent microparticles are used in combination with deep learning-based image analysis for the simultaneous administration of therapeutics and registry of patient information records into the skin.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group
• Subject: 631/61/350/354 / 631/61/54/1866 / 631/61/54/990 / Animals / Biomaterials / Chemistry and Materials Science / Condensed Matter Physics / COVID-19 - prevention & control / Deep learning / Design optimization / Disease control / Effectiveness / Fluorescence / Global health / Health care / Humans / Image analysis / Image processing / Image processing systems / Infrared analysis / Injections, Intradermal / Materials Science / Medical imaging / Medical records / Microinjections / Microparticles / Nanotechnology / Needles / Optical and Electronic Materials / RNA, Messenger - administration & dosage / RNA, Messenger - genetics / RNA, Messenger - therapeutic use / SARS-CoV-2 - genetics / Swine / Viral diseases