SLA Printed Microneedle Patch for Drug Delivery Systems using Nano Particles for Targeted Drug Delivery - 2026 (In Progress)
This research project is part of one of my BME classes. I chose this project due to my nature of wanting to really push the capabilities of 3D printing. These parts are so small that I'm able to find the capabilities of the Formlabs 3BL.
The project is this:
I had to create a microneedle patch (positive & negative) that could be used for drug delivery. We needed to create a patch that could have controlled drug delivery and also hold specific polymers as well as nanoparticles. In the later stages of this project, these nanoparticles would be magnetoelectric so that we could target specific sites in the body using magnetic fields.
For reference, the microneedles have a 500micron base with a 1mm height.
In order to print this small, I had to create custom settings for the 3BL. All tests have been done using the Clear V4.1 which may not be ideal due to it being clear but, it's what we have in our lab.
The custom settings allow me to print at a 10micron layer height for precision. I had to edit my exposure, adhesion, and x-axis motion to get the results that I wanted.
I first had a couple failed attempts. In the picture above, you can see that the needle has a bulbous tip. Originally, it was an inverse cone and I couldn't figure out why. I thought maybe my post laser cure wait time was too high so I changed it to 0 seconds.
No luck.
I was driving to school one day and I had finally figured it out!
I had designed the needle to go to an infitesimally small point and the 3BL only has a 85 micron laser spot size. That means, the print was still trying to go to that infinitesimally small point but it was just curing on itself. I was literally so irritated that I had not thought of that before because it is something I should have caught early on.
So, I edited the design to have a tip of 85 microns and that fixed the problem. It still has a bulbous tip but I had to move onto next steps of the project.
Currently, the negative mold has been casted and we are awaiting on polymers to arrive so we can cast for the first time with polymers.
I have done some mechanical tests on the MN patches but I am going to do more to really test and see it's strength.
The project is this:
I had to create a microneedle patch (positive & negative) that could be used for drug delivery. We needed to create a patch that could have controlled drug delivery and also hold specific polymers as well as nanoparticles. In the later stages of this project, these nanoparticles would be magnetoelectric so that we could target specific sites in the body using magnetic fields.
For reference, the microneedles have a 500micron base with a 1mm height.
In order to print this small, I had to create custom settings for the 3BL. All tests have been done using the Clear V4.1 which may not be ideal due to it being clear but, it's what we have in our lab.
The custom settings allow me to print at a 10micron layer height for precision. I had to edit my exposure, adhesion, and x-axis motion to get the results that I wanted.
I first had a couple failed attempts. In the picture above, you can see that the needle has a bulbous tip. Originally, it was an inverse cone and I couldn't figure out why. I thought maybe my post laser cure wait time was too high so I changed it to 0 seconds.
No luck.
I was driving to school one day and I had finally figured it out!
I had designed the needle to go to an infitesimally small point and the 3BL only has a 85 micron laser spot size. That means, the print was still trying to go to that infinitesimally small point but it was just curing on itself. I was literally so irritated that I had not thought of that before because it is something I should have caught early on.
So, I edited the design to have a tip of 85 microns and that fixed the problem. It still has a bulbous tip but I had to move onto next steps of the project.
Currently, the negative mold has been casted and we are awaiting on polymers to arrive so we can cast for the first time with polymers.
I have done some mechanical tests on the MN patches but I am going to do more to really test and see it's strength.