Microneedles eliminate the pain from the process of drug and vaccine delivery through the skin. They are also used for cosmetics application and skin rejuvenation. From painless management of diabetes to drastic skin rejuvenation, microneedles come with the promise to revolutionalize the pharmaceutical, medical, biotechnology, cosmetics and other related industries. Microneedles are a relatively recent technology and as knowledge on microneedles advances they continue to find applications in wider fields.

The production of microneedles burrows from the MEMS and polymer technology. This course takes you through the processes involved in the production of microneedles using a combination of animated illustrations as well as practical demonstrations. At the end of this course, you will be provided the necessary skill to produce microneedles. In addition to this, you will have gained a good understanding of the working principles and the different applications, and the current state of the art.

The first part of the course gives an introduction of drug delivery in general. This gradually builds into the sections on microneedles where the different types of microneedles are explored. The course then advances toward description of the production processes of microneedles production. Here we look at topics like selection of the right materials for microneedles production and the different techniques to achieve different types of microneedles. A separate section is then dedicated to the practical demonstrations where you will be guided through the step by step video on microneedle production. The testing and further production processes are then covered in the following sections. The final section gives a review of recent developments in the field and some example products in the market or in clinical trials.