Low Cost Methods For Forming Hollow Out-of-plane Microneedles
- Technology Benefits
- Low cost fabricationArrays of varying dimensionsNeedles with varying geometries
- Technology Application
- Fabricating arrays of hollow out-of-plane microneedles.
- Detailed Technology Description
- None
- Others
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Related Technologies
Tech ID/UC Case
17369/2004-062-0
Related Cases
2004-062-0
- *Abstract
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There is growing interest in using arrays of hollow microneedles to implement minimally invasive, low-cost, highly integrated systems for delivering drugs to, or sampling fluids from humans. However most existing methods for fabricating microneedles are cost prohibitive and/or have design limitations. For example, existing fabrication concepts for hollow in-plane microneedles can only arrange the needles in one dimension which puts constraints on their flow capacity and rate. Likewise, lower costs methods using electroplated metals result in microneedle arrays that are not rigid enough for most applications.
To solve this problem, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have developed several low-cost methods for fabricating arrays of hollow, out-of-plane microneedles. These methods are based on using materials that are initially in fluid form such as curable polymers, polymer solutions or melts. The methods can be controlled to create microneedles with different geometries.
- *Principal Investigator
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Name: Dorian Liepmann
Department:
Name: Albert Pisano
Department:
Name: Boris Stoeber
Department:
Name: Stefan Zimmermann
Department:
- Country/Region
- USA
