Invisible medical records and mRNA delivery via microneedles: A leap toward equitable healthcare
In medical practice, the effectiveness of interventions often hinges on precise dosage control and strict scheduling, with adherence to prescribed doses being fundamental for patients to achieve optimal therapeutic outcomes. However, globally, inaccurate or missing medical records have become a common concern. Traditional methods of storing medical information, such as paper cards and online databases, pose the risk of losing access to medical histories, which can impede the effective execution of disease prevention and control efforts.2 The rapid evolution of digital health has given rise to new medical record technologies, such as fingerprint scanning, mobile apps, and microchips, which have significantly advanced the storage of medical data and subsequently enhanced decision-making support and disease monitoring. Among them, emerging blockchain systems facilitate decentralized medical record management, ensuring immutable audit trails. Nonetheless, these methods raise privacy concerns around storing personally identifiable medical data in centralized databases, increasing risks of data breaches, misuse, or quality issues.
To address these challenges, a team led by Professor Ana Jaklenec at MIT has developed the first dual-functional medical platform integrating real-time medical recording with therapeutic delivery through proprietary microneedle technology. Unlike wearable biosensors that need frequent charging and can cause skin irritation, on-patient medical record-keeping (OPMR) does not require recharging and minimizes skin contact issues. However, compared to subcutaneous chips that provide long-term data retention but pose risks of foreign body reactions and infections, OPMR’s biodegradable microneedles focus on biocompatibility, though with a lower encoding capacity. The pioneering OPMR system combines bioengineered quantum dot (QD) tagging with mRNA therapeutic co-delivery in a single, minimally invasive patch. Its machine-learning-powered decoding architecture overcomes traditional limitations in long-term subcutaneous data retention, while innovative error correction coding enables unprecedented information security and capacity. The technology’s unique biocompatible encapsulation strategy simultaneously preserves optical signal integrity and maintains vaccine efficacy, establishing a new paradigm for autonomous medical record-keeping that synergizes treatment administration with encrypted data storage in living tissue. This fundamentally novel approach bypasses infrastructure-dependent tracking systems by embedding medical intelligence directly at the point of care.
Initially, OPMR microneedle patches (MNPs) for near-infrared (NIR) encoding were prepared by encapsulating CuInS2/ZnS quantum dots within poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) via solvent emulsion evaporation. Fluorescent microparticles were layered with polyvinyl alcohol/polyvinylpyrrolidone solutions using centrifugal micro-molding, with iterative drying and demolding cycles strengthening mechanical integrity. Vacuum drying further reinforced MNP robustness. Notably, to indicate the microneedle insertion direction, the authors innovatively removed four needle tips from one corner of the MNP array.
