{"56322":{"#nid":"56322","#data":{"type":"news","title":"New Patch Could Eliminate Needles","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EVaccines can help keep you healthy, but suffering through the protective shot can be downright painful. Now, researchers may have come up with a new way of soothing the sting.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EKelly Marie Boyd doesn\u0027t do well when waiting to get a shot. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I will start feeling faint, feeling nauseated before they even walk into the room. If I see a needle, I will pass out,\u0022 she said. With a little girl on the way, she dreads having to put her baby through childhood vaccinations.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EA new invention may help make things less terrifying for Kelly and others like her. The new tool could eliminate a need for needles, by using what\u0027s called a transdermal patch.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022That way you can put the drug on the skin. It sits there for a period of time and the drug makes its way across the skin,\u0022 said Dr. Mark Prausnitz of Georgia Institute of Technology.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe \u0022microneedles\u0022 work just like a nicotine patch, but use - you guessed it - microscopic needles. \u0022So small that on the one hand, you don\u0027t feel them. Probably you don\u0027t even see them,\u0022 Prausnitz said.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOn the other hand, they\u0027re large enough to do what\u0027s needed. \u0022The channels that they have are big enough to deliver most any drug or even vaccine that you would like to give,\u0022 Prausnitz said.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ENot only is it less painful, this may also be a more effective way of delivering drugs. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022There is a class of immune cells that live in the very top layer of skin. So, if you can give the vaccine right there at the top layer of skin, you can get a better immune response,\u0022 Prausnitz said.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWith a better response, smaller doses of the drug may be given than what is traditionally needed. You may even be able to use them right at home. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022You just stick it on and you\u0027re done,\u0022 Dr. Prausnitz said. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EResearchers hope these microneedles will have a big impact in third-world countries, where there\u0027s a huge need for a better way to vaccinate large groups against deadly diseases such as hepatitis B and smallpox.\n\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"ChBE professor Mark Prausnitz and his research team have developed a new, less painful method for administering vaccines.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Vaccines can help keep you healthy, but suffering t"}],"uid":"27255","created_gmt":"2006-07-14 00:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:06:01","author":"Josie Giles","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2005-06-09T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2005-06-09T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"56323":{"id":"56323","type":"image","title":"Traditional Drug Delivery","body":null,"created":"1449175629","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:47:09","changed":"1475894499","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:41:39","alt":"Traditional Drug Delivery","file":{"fid":"190450","name":"tjs97045.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tjs97045_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tjs97045_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":11482,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tjs97045_0.jpg?itok=jj3rzrQw"}}},"media_ids":["56323"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/cbs2chicago.com\/health\/local_story_160160916.html","title":"CBS2 Chicago Web Site (Original Story)"}],"groups":[{"id":"1240","name":"School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1303","name":"chbe"},{"id":"560","name":"chemical engineering"},{"id":"495","name":"Mark Prausnitz"},{"id":"365","name":"Research"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003EJosie Giles\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ESchool of Chemical \u0026amp; Biomolecular Engineering\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=jg234\u0022\u003EContact Josie Giles\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-385-2299\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["josie.giles@chbe.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}