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	Podcast:		UC Science Today
	Episode:		A possible game changer for vaccinations
	Category:		Science & Medicine
	Duration:		00:01:02
	Publish Date:		2017-03-27 19:00:00
	Description:		Do you dread getting vaccinations because of the needle? Well, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have developed what could be a game-changer for vaccinations. Dorian Liepmann, a professor of mechanical and bioengineering says their needleless technology is called MucoJet, and it’s designed to self-administer vaccines. "What we have is a pill that actually shoots a jet of drug into your cheek without pain. We use a reaction in here just like vinegar and baking soda. Once that starts reacting, it makes a gas and builds up the pressure inside of the pill. On the end of the nozzle, we have a membrane that holds the pressure in and when it gets to a certain pressure, it releases. This piston pushes down, pushes the drug out and it shoots a jet of the drug into the cheek." Right now, this is a proof-of-concept study, but Liepmann hopes it will be available within the next five to ten years. "The next step is actually a smaller pill and this one’s actually designed to be swallowed. One of the target possibilities would be insulin for diabetics – swallow a pill versus having to take an injection."
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