Here’s some very exciting news from Tufts University in a Dec. 21, 2011 news item on Nanowerk,

Bioengineers at Tufts University School of Engineering have developed a new silk-based microneedle system able to deliver precise amounts of drugs over time and without need for refrigeration. The tiny needles can be fabricated under normal temperature and pressure and from water, so they can be loaded with sensitive biochemical compounds and maintain their activity prior to use. They are also biodegradable and biocompatible.

I have previously written about a micro needle project at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Nov. 9, 2011 posting and about Mark Kendall’s nano vaccine patch on more than one occasion, most recently in my Aug. 3, 2011 posting.

This new drug delivery project surprised me; I didn’t realize that horesradish could also be a drug,

The Tufts researchers successfully demonstrated the ability of the silk microneedles to deliver a large-molecule, enzymatic model drug, horseradish peroxidase (HRP), at controlled rates while maintaining bioactivity. In addition, silk microneedles loaded with tetracycline were found to inhibit the growth of Staphylococcus aureus, demonstrating the potential of the microneedles to prevent local infections while also delivering therapeutics.

“By adjusting the post-processing conditions of the silk protein and varying the drying time of the silk protein, we were able to precisely control the drug release rates in laboratory experiments,” said Fiorenzo Omenetto, Ph.D., senior author on the paper. “The new system addresses long-standing drug delivery challenges, and we believe that the technology could also be applied to other biological storage applications.”

If we’re all lucky, it won’t be too long before syringes are a museum item and we’ll be getting our medication with far less discomfort/pain and, in some cases, fear.