Microneedles made from a range of materials including silicon, metals and polymers have considerable potential for inexpensive disposable patch delivery of drugs and vaccines. The design of robust microneedle arrays for reliable skin penetration, with or without applicators, cost-effective manufacture, and drug and vaccine storage strategies such as dissolving microneedle tips are some of the key areas of current R&D.

Contributions to the thematic issue are invited, including but not limited to, the following topics:

• Microneedle design
• Microneedle materials
• Novel materials: hydrogels, dissolving formulations
• Microneedle manufacturing processes and scale-up potential
• Skin penetration modelling and experiments
• Controlled insertion applicators
• Applications R&D including preclinical and clinical studies using microneedle arrays

Download all of the current publications in this thematic issue by clicking on "Download Issue".