Quantum-dot tattoos hold vaccination record

MIKE WILLIAMS – DECEMBER 18, 2019POSTED IN: CURRENT NEWS

莱斯大学一位新教授和他的同事发明的技术，追踪孩子的注射情况可能会容易得多。

今年夏天，莱斯大学生物工程助理教授Kevin McHugh和他之前所在的麻省理工学院的一个团队在《科学转化医学》杂志的封面故事中报告了他们开发的量子点标签，在作为疫苗接种的一部分被注射后会发出信息的荧光。

包含疫苗和荧光量子点的1.5毫米的微针图案被作为一个补丁应用。针头在皮肤下溶解，留下封装的量子点。它们的图案可以被读取，以识别所施用的疫苗。该项目由莱斯大学生物工程师凯文-麦克休在麻省理工学院工作期间共同领导。(Credit: Second Bay Studios)

标签仅被纳入贴片上的糖基微针阵列中的一部分。当这些针头在大约两分钟内溶解时，它们就会输送疫苗，并在皮肤下留下标签的图案，在那里它们成为类似条形码的纹身。

这种高度具体的医疗记录由嵌入在生物兼容的微米级胶囊中的铜基量子点代替墨水。它们的近红外染料是不可见的，但它们设置的图案可以由定制的智能手机读取和解释。

这个为期两年的项目旨在解决因缺乏疫苗接种而导致的150万可预防的死亡，主要是在发展中国家。

“比尔和梅林达-盖茨基金会找到我们说，’嘿，我们有一个真正的问题–知道谁接种了疫苗，'”麦克休说，他是在得克萨斯州癌症预防和研究机构的资助下被招募加入莱斯公司的。”他们说，’我们开展疫苗接种活动，人们坐上悍马车，开到一个农村，搭起帐篷，开始为人们进行免疫接种，但他们并不总是知道谁以前接种过疫苗，还需要哪些疫苗。”

McHugh说，父母往往不知道他们孩子的疫苗接种历史。”所以我们的想法是把记录放在人身上，”他说。”这样一来，以后人们就可以在这个区域内扫描，看看已经注射了哪些疫苗，并只给仍然需要的疫苗。

“这有两个方面，”他说。”首先，是你不会注射不必要的疫苗，这是有成本的。但是更重要的是，你不会让人们的免疫力不足，并有感染传染病的风险。”

McHugh说，该团队与一位生物伦理学家合作，以确保病人的数据得到保护。”她说，只要人们可以选择退出，比如只接种疫苗的贴片，我们就有坚实的伦理基础。另外，带有量子点的贴片只包含关于接受的疫苗的信息。它不会告诉你关于这个人的任何其他信息。”

平方厘米的贴片最多容纳16个小针头。”它们并不深入，这使得它们在理论上没有痛苦，对孩子们来说也更容易，”麦克休说。”它们就像穿上绷带一样。”

他说，由于1.5毫米的针头在皮肤中解体，因此没有生物危险的利器需要处理。在强光下对模型皮肤进行的测试表明，4纳米的小点应该至少可读5年。

McHugh计划在莱斯大学继续他在该技术上的工作。”他说：”这个特定项目有很多方面，我们需要纳米技术专家、细菌学家、化学家和计算机科学家。”所以这肯定是我在这里的实验室考虑的事情。”

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Quantum-dot tattoos hold vaccination record

Rice bioengineer reveals dissolving microneedles that also embed fluorescent medical info

Keeping track of a child’s shots could be so much easier with technology invented by a new Rice University professor and his colleagues.

Kevin McHugh, an assistant professor of bioengineering at Rice since this summer, and a team at his previous institution, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, report in a cover story in Science Translational Medicine on their development of quantum-dot tags that fluoresce with information after they’re injected as part of a vaccination.

A pattern of 1.5-millimeter microneedles that contain vaccine and fluorescent quantum dots are applied as a patch. The needles dissolve under the skin, leaving the encapsulated quantum dots. Their pattern can be read to identify the vaccine that was administered. The project was co-led by Rice University bioengineer Kevin McHugh during his time at MIT. (Credit: Second Bay Studios)

The tags are incorporated in only some of the array of sugar-based microneedles on a patch. When the needles dissolve in about two minutes, they deliver the vaccine and leave the pattern of tags just under the skin, where they become something like a bar-code tattoo.

Instead of ink, this highly specific medical record consists of copper-based quantum dots embedded in biocompatible, micron-scale capsules. Their near-infrared dye is invisible, but the pattern they set can be read and interpreted by a customized smartphone.

The two-year project is aimed at the 1.5 million preventable deaths that result from a lack of vaccinations, primarily in developing nations.

Kevin McHugh

“The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation came to us and said, ‘Hey, we have a real problem — knowing who’s vaccinated,’” said McHugh, who was recruited to join Rice with funding from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. “They said, ‘We go on vaccination campaigns where people get into Hummers, drive to a rural village, set up a tent and start immunizing people, but they don’t always know who’s been immunized before and what vaccines are still needed.”

Parents often don’t know their children’s vaccination histories, McHugh said. “So our idea was to put the record on the person,” he said. “This way, later on, people can scan over the area to see what vaccines have been administered and give only the ones still needed.

“There are two sides to this,” he said. “First, is that you don’t administer unnecessary vaccines, which has a cost. But even bigger, you don’t leave people underimmunized and at risk of getting an infectious disease.”

McHugh said the team worked with a bioethicist to be sure the patients’ data remains protected. “She said we’re on solid ethical ground as long as people can opt out, like getting the patch with only the vaccine. Also, the patch with quantum dots only contains information about the vaccine received. It doesn’t tell you anything else about the person.”

The square-centimeter patches hold up to 16 tiny needles. “They don’t go very deep, which makes them theoretically painless and a lot easier for kids,” McHugh said. “They’re like putting on a bandage.”

Because the 1.5-millimeter needles disintegrate in the skin, no biohazardous sharps remain for disposal, he said. Testing in model skin in strong light showed the 4-nanometer dots should be readable for at least five years.

McHugh plans to continue his work on the technology at Rice. “There are so many aspects to this particular project that we need nanotechnologists, bacteriologists, chemists and computer scientists,” he said. “So this is certainly something I’m thinking about for my lab here.”