Crystal Mosaic: Long-Acting Therapeutic Implants through a Single Injection

Crystal Mosaic: Long-Acting Therapeutic Implants through a Single Injection

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Benjamin Muller, Caroline Dial, Vivian Feig, Savannah Jinhee Kim, Sanghyun Park, Ashka Patel, Pier Giuseppe Rivano, Giovanni Traverso

Koch Institute at MIT

Imagine if patients could avoid taking a pill every day and instead give themselves a single shot that provides therapy for multiple years.

A long-acting implant from the Traverso Lab self-assembles inside the body from an injectable liquid format. Most long-acting drug implants need to be administered surgically by a doctor. By studying self-assembling structures like the one shown here, the researchers hope to be able to replace these surgical procedures with simple needle injections. 

Black and white image of a pile of small square crystals, with long tooth-like crystals arranged across the top

Video