posted on 2024-05-10, 08:31authored byCong Wang, Chenlei Gu, Courtney Popp, Priya Vashisth, Salman Ahmad Mustfa, Davide Alessandro Martella, Chantelle Spiteri, Samuel McLennan, Ningjia Sun, Megan Riddle, Cindy R. Eide, Maddy Parsons, Jakub Tolar, John A. McGrath, Ciro Chiappini
Porous silicon nanoneedles can interface with cells and
tissues
with minimal perturbation for high-throughput intracellular delivery
and biosensing. Typically, nanoneedle devices are rigid, flat, and
opaque, which limits their use for topical applications in the clinic.
We have developed a robust, rapid, and precise substrate transfer
approach to incorporate nanoneedles within diverse substrates of arbitrary
composition, flexibility, curvature, transparency, and biodegradability.
With this approach, we integrated nanoneedles on medically relevant
elastomers, hydrogels, plastics, medical bandages, catheter tubes,
and contact lenses. The integration retains the mechanical properties
and transfection efficiency of the nanoneedles. Transparent devices
enable the live monitoring of cell–nanoneedle interactions.
Flexible devices interface with tissues for efficient, uniform, and
sustained topical delivery of nucleic acids ex vivo and in vivo. The versatility of this approach highlights
the opportunity to integrate nanoneedles within existing medical devices
to develop advanced platforms for topical delivery and biosensing.