![]() ![]() ![]() When they come across anything that shouldn’t be there, they capture it and start the process of teaching your immune system how to fight it off. Within the dermis is a collection of dendritic cells whose primary job is to patrol your skin in search of foreign invaders like bacteria or viruses. The epidermis contains five sublayers, and the dermis consists of two regions. The skin has three primary layers: the epidermis, the top layer made up of epithelial cells that slough off over time the dermis, the middle layer that contains blood vessels, hair follicles, sweat glands and nerve endings and the hypodermis, the bottom layer made up of connective tissue and fat that attaches the first two layers to the muscle and bone below. “All day long, you’re getting exposed to viruses and bacteria and you usually don’t even know it because your skin is doing a good job of taking them off,” explained Louis Falo, a professor and chair of dermatology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. ![]() “All day long, you’re getting exposed to viruses and bacteria and you usually don’t even know it because your skin is doing a good job of taking them off.” Skin probably isn’t the first part of the body that comes to mind when you think about the immune system, but it plays a major role in protecting us from all of the invisible invaders we confront in our daily lives. But if one or several of the many companies and organizations involved in developing this technology are successful, we could one day live in a world where any vaccine we need is delivered right to our door. To bring this type of vaccine to market, a range of logistical and financial hurdles will have to be overcome. Several patches have gone through human or animal trials, and at least two are currently being evaluated to potentially protect against COVID-19. Vaccine patches haven’t yet been approved for commercial use, but both global vaccine experts and researchers have acknowledged their potential for years, particularly when it comes to making vaccines more accessible worldwide. In many places around the world, extreme conditions or lack of health care can stifle accessibility to traditional vaccines, too. Vaccination is a crucial public health measure against serious, preventable illnesses, but the fear of needles - or of vaccines themselves - can be a hurdle to protection for individuals and their communities. One group is even developing a completely needle-free method to confer immunity. Multiple research teams have designed patches that use microneedle arrays made out of materials like stainless steel or sugar to deliver quick and pain-free vaccination by taking advantage of the key role that skin plays in training our immune system. That’s one of the main goals of vaccine patch technology. So what if there was a painless vaccine you could administer yourself? What if, rather than heading to the pharmacy, you could simply place the equivalent of a Band-Aid on your arm, leave it there for a few minutes to a few hours, then take it off and let your physician know you’ve been innoculated? Maybe you find yourself looking away or taking deep breaths to steel yourself, even though it’s over in just a few seconds. When you pull up your sleeve to get your yearly flu shot, you might feel a twinge of anxiety as a health care provider readies the needle and syringe. ![]()
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