![]() ![]() ![]() “In order to be protected against most pathogens, one needs multiple vaccinations,” Jaklenec says. Many vaccines, such as the vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), require multiple doses spaced out at certain intervals without accurate records, children may not receive all of the necessary doses. Several years ago, the MIT team set out to devise a method for recording vaccination information in a way that doesn’t require a centralized database or other infrastructure. Koch Institute Professor at MIT, are the senior authors of the paper. Ana Jaklenec, a research scientist at MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, and Robert Langer, the David H. McHugh and former visiting scientist Lihong Jing are the lead authors of the study, which appears today in Science Translational Medicine. ![]() The researchers showed that their new dye, which consists of nanocrystals called quantum dots, can remain for at least five years under the skin, where it emits near-infrared light that can be detected by a specially equipped smartphone. “In areas where paper vaccination cards are often lost or do not exist at all, and electronic databases are unheard of, this technology could enable the rapid and anonymous detection of patient vaccination history to ensure that every child is vaccinated,” says Kevin McHugh, a former MIT postdoc who is now an assistant professor of bioengineering at Rice University. MIT researchers have now developed a novel way to record a patient’s vaccination history: storing the data in a pattern of dye, invisible to the naked eye, that is delivered under the skin at the same time as the vaccine. One factor that makes vaccination campaigns in those nations more difficult is that there is little infrastructure for storing medical records, so there’s often no easy way to determine who needs a particular vaccine. The method is still in an experimental stage and is not being used for any current vaccinations, including Covid-19 vaccines.Įvery year, a lack of vaccination leads to about 1.5 million preventable deaths, primarily in developing nations. Many vaccines require multiple doses spaced out at certain intervals without accurate records, people may not receive all of the necessary doses. Editor’s note: This article has been updated to clarify that this research was developed to help avoid preventable deaths in parts of the world where paper or digital systems for storing patients’ vaccination records aren’t available. ![]()
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