An ultra-low-cost electroporator with microneedle electrodes (ePatch) for SARS-CoV-2 vaccination

Dengning Xia,Rui Jin,Gaurav Byagathvalli,Huan Yu,Ling Ye,Chao-Yi Lu,M Saad Bhamla,Chinglai Yang,Mark R Prausnitz

doi:10.1073/pnas.2110817118

Abstract

Vaccination against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and other pathogens with pandemic potential requires safe, protective, inexpensive, and easily accessible vaccines that can be developed and manufactured rapidly at a large scale. DNA vaccines can achieve these criteria, but induction of strong immune responses has often required bulky, expensive electroporation devices. Here, we report an ultra-low-cost (<1 USD), handheld (<50 g) electroporation system utilizing a microneedle electrode array ("ePatch") for DNA vaccination against SARS-CoV-2. The low cost and small size are achieved by combining a thumb-operated piezoelectric pulser derived from a common household stove lighter that emits microsecond, bipolar, oscillatory electric pulses and a microneedle electrode array that targets delivery of high electric field strength pulses to the skin's epidermis. Antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2 induced by this electroporation system in mice were strong and enabled at least 10-fold dose sparing compared to conventional intramuscular or intradermal injection of the DNA vaccine. Vaccination was well tolerated with mild, transient effects on the skin. This ePatch system is easily portable, without any battery or other power source supply, offering an attractive, inexpensive approach for rapid and accessible DNA vaccination to combat COVID-19, as well as other epidemics.

Highlights

S evere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2) is highly transmissible between humans and has created a global public health crisis resulting in over 4.3 million deaths globally, with the case counts still rapidly increasing and more contagious variants of the virus emerging [1]
This study introduces a DNA vaccination method that benefits from the combination of two innovations: a piezoelectric-based power source for electroporation and an microneedle electrode array (MEA) that generates large electric fields targeted to the epidermis
We developed a low-cost, portable, and rapidly deployable electroporation system powered by an ultra-low-cost piezoelectric household stove lighter element that emits bipolar oscillating electric pulses well suited for electroporation

Summary

Introduction

S evere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2) is highly transmissible between humans and has created a global public health crisis resulting in over 4.3 million deaths globally, with the case counts still rapidly increasing and more contagious variants of the virus emerging [1]. This pandemic presents an unprecedented global challenge to mitigate the further spread and rising death counts of COVID-19. We developed an ultralow-cost (

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