In-vitro studies of jet injection dynamics

Recent advances in DNA-based vaccines require a precise drug delivery into intradermal and subcutaneous tissues, and drug manufacturers are increasingly seeking needle-free delivery methods, such as jet injection. In addition to jet speed and diameter, a key parameter that is thought to control deposition depth is the stand-off distance between the jet orifice and the skin.

In this talk, we will present some recent results from an in-vitro study on the dynamics of needle-free jet injection. The principle control parameter used in our study was the stand-off distance between the jet orifice and the target and we show that there is a counter-intuitive (nonlinear) relationship between the stand-off and the depth of injection. We also study the effect of fluid viscosity and target strength.