![]() ![]() “That fresh thinking allowed me to come up with the idea of using an array of nano-projections to deliver vaccines to those cells. “As an engineer with a knowledge of immunology, I looked at the scale of the cells, their spatial position and how quickly they moved,” says Kendall. Instead of injecting deep into muscle where there are fewer immune cells, why not administer vaccines to the skin? There was only one problem: the technology to effectively do this did not exist – until Kendall came along. Immunologists had discovered there were thousands of immune cells just under the surface of the skin. Originally a mechanical engineer with a PhD in hypervelocity aerodynamics – “I was researching high-speed wind tunnels for interplanetary missions” – Kendall’s interest in immunology stemmed from his time at Oxford working on the gene gun. “The Nanopatch has the potential to completely change the way vaccines are delivered and address ongoing problems in the global push for vaccines in the developing world,” says Kendall, Group Leader of The Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology at The University of Queensland. Within about a minute, the vaccine becomes wet in the cellular environment and is released. ![]() When the patch is applied, these projections deliver the vaccine just below the top layer of the skin, which is abundant in immune cells. Each of these projections is coated in a dry vaccine. The Nanopatch is a tiny piece of silicon, covered on one side with up to 20,000 microscopic projections per square centimetre. Kendall has since moved back to Australia and pushed beyond the gene gun technology, creating the Nanopatch, a new and unique way to administer life-saving vaccines that is safer and more effective than using a needle and syringe. Intrigued, Kendall accepted the man’s offer to work at Oxford University, where together with others they developed the ‘gene gun’ – a device that used aerodynamic principles to deliver vaccines to the skin. Professor Mark Kendall was all set for a career in aerodynamics when he met a man with an unusual idea: he wanted to use rocket technology to fire vaccines into the skin. ![]() Featured image above: creator of the Nanopatch, Professor Mark Kendall ![]()
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