Innovation Anthology #683:
At Ingenuity Lab, scientists are developing new technologies and engineering new products by replicating the function of biological systems.
A major advantage is that these new products can respond or interact with their environment without the need of outside control.
Ingenuity Lab’s director Dr. Carlo Montemagno, explains how these biological principles are being applied in a new vaccine delivery system.
DR. CARLO MONTEMAGNO: So one of the things that we’ve done is we’ve made a membrane that detects pH. And as a result of the pH difference across this membrane, a molecule opens and closes. You incorporate the vaccine within particles that respond to the changes in pH. And so what happens is you take a pill which would have the vaccine, it goes into your stomach into a high acid environment ,and the vaccine stays encapsulated. Then when it gets to your lower gut, the pH becomes more neutral, and at that point little valves, the pores, open up and then the vaccine gets delivered.
According to Dr. Carlo Montemagno , this new technology eliminates the use of needles and allows for long term storage.
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I’M CHERYL CROUCHER
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Program Date: 2015-04-23