In order to innovate in the method for vaccines application and to reduce the percentage of diseases transmitted by the use of needles, a group of researchers of the National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics (INAOE), in Mexico, designed the prototype of a device that uses laser technology to shoot liquids at a high speed and pierce the skin without pain.

Dr. Ruben Ramos Garcia, an optics specialist and research leader, explained that the device works thanks to the use of an infrared laser, which light beam focuses on a special solution based on water to increase its temperature.

“Basically, the liquid exceeds the boiling point and reaches 300 degrees centigrade. The phenomenon occurs so fast that the water does not have time to boil and the so-called ‘superheating’ is generated, in which the solution is transformed into vapor explosively in about 20 to 50 micro seconds. In this way, a bubble is formed that expands and moves the target liquid out of a container,” the specialist explained.

In order the fluid shoots out from the prototype, a small channel was adapted, which, by reducing its diameter, increases the escape velocity up to 100 meters per second. In order to observe in detail the spay pattern and to analyze the speed of the liquid ejected by the bubble, an ultra-fast camera has been used that takes between 100,000 and 0.5 million shots per second, due to the speed of the phenomenon.

So far, tests of penetration are carried out with a material called agar; however, it still have to be tested in pork and human skin.

“The outer layer that protects us from the environment is called ‘stratum corneum’ and has different thicknesses depending on the body part, from 10 to 100 micrometers. With the 100 meters per second achieved so far, a single shot can penetrate up to half a millimeter, we have reached two millimeters deep with 5 shots, which is ideal for supplying vaccines, inject insulin for people with diabetes or even get tattoos,” Said Ramos Garcia.

The also mathematician and physicist graduated from the National Polytechnic Institute, said that the prototype has a dimension of one meter in each one of its sides due to its current components. However he will change the laser currently used by one of fiber, which has the thickness of one hair. This will achieve a more compact and easily manageable device.

Additionally, as the prototype works with heat and some drugs cannot be subjected to high temperatures, he also works in a design in which the drug is separated thermally from the hot liquid to avoid damages.

 

Source: Agencia ID