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Drug Delivery

Drug Delivery - Poster Session C & D

X27 - Microneedle-mediated Delivery of Janus-Based Nanoparticle Carrying Messenger-RNAs

Friday, October 10, 2025
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM PDT
Location: Exhibit Hall F, G & H

    Presenting Author(s)

  • DG

    Delaram Ghanbariamin, PhD candidate

    Research assistant
    University of Connecticut
    Hartford, Connecticut, United States

    • Co-Author(s)

  • Jinhyung Lee, PhD

    Postdoctoral Research Associate
    University of Connecticut
    Vernon, Connecticut, United States

    • Last Author(s)

  • Ali Tamayol

    Associate Professor
    University of Connecticut Health Center
    Hartford, Connecticut, United States

    • Primary Investigator(s)

  • Yupeng Chen

    Associate Professor
    Univeristy of Connecticut, United States


Introduction: : Messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics have emerged as a transformative approach for the prevention and treatment of a wide range of diseases, including infectious diseases, cancer, and genetic disorders, leveraging the body’s cellular machinery to produce therapeutic proteins, offering a transient, non-integrative, and flexible platform for targeted treatments. Despite their potential, effective mRNA delivery remains a critical challenge due to its susceptibility to enzymatic degradation, limited cellular uptake, and the need for precise targeting to specific tissues. Traditional delivery routes, such as intramuscular or intravenous administration, face limitations in terms of patient compliance, delivery efficiency, and the ability to bypass biological barriers. Microneedle arrays (MNAs) have emerged as a promising, minimally invasive delivery platform that overcomes many of the obstacles associated with mRNA delivery. This method facilitates localized and systemic delivery of therapeutic payloads, including nucleic acids such as mRNA.

Materials and

Methods: : In this work, we first develop a strategy for cleanroom-free fabrication of solid and hollow microneedles through repeatable shrink-molding of hydrogels with controllable size scales. Then, we incorporate mRNA with Janus-Based Nanoparticles (JBNP) to deliver the composition through hollow MNAs. The electrostatic interaction between negatively charged mRNA and positively charged JBNP will form nanopieces (NPs) that facilitates the delivery of therapeutic into the cell.

Results, Conclusions, and Discussions:: Through sequential molding and shrinking of polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) MNAs, the size of the arrays was reduced to generate micro-scale MNA molds. These molds could later be used for the production of solid and hollow microneedles. This approach could be used for enhancing the resolution of the MNA fabrication and enabled controlling of the surface micro-topography of the arrays. Using this approach, hydrogel microneedle arrays, with optimized mechanical properties for enhanced skin insertion capability, have been fabricated for multimodal drug delivery and fluid sampling. Using JBNps in the next step, we are able to increase mRNA stability and transfection efficiency by optimizing the mRNA to nanoparticle ratio and their overall concentration. We were also able to show enhanced in vitro transfection efficiency with confocal imaging. We are now running the animal studies for delivery of nanopieces through MNAs.

Acknowledgements and/or References (Optional): :