Martina Iapichino

Nanotechnology Engineer with a PhD in biophysics.
Currently Researcher @ UBC
Passionate about multidisciplinarity, yoga, art and funny memes.

[UBC Electrical & Computer Engineering @ECEUBC]

Congratulations to Boris Stoeber of @ubcmech and ECE!

[Martina Iapichino @martinaiapi]

@KSLG_92 @UVicCAMTEC @KirstyGardner @LitingBi @melissaaradford Thank you to the organizers and congrats to all the award winners! 🥳#PCAMM2021

[CAMTEC @UVicCAMTEC]

2/

#PCAMM2021 Best Poster Award 🏆
(no particular order):

@KirstyGardner (UBC)
@LitingBi (Liting Bi, UVic)
@martinaiapi (Martina Iapichino, UBC) @melissaaradford (SFU)
@KSLG_92 (Kanagasubbulakshmi Sankaralingam, UBC)

[Martina Iapichino @martinaiapi]

@melissaaradford Insulin syringes (for subcutaneous injections) have 30G needles with an outer diameter of ~0.3 mm. For blood sampling needles are usually in between 23G and 21G (~0.64-0.82 mm). Our microneedles have an outer diameter of ~0.15-0.2 mm.

[Martina Iapichino @martinaiapi]

PCAMM Annual Meeting
Fabrication of Hollow Metallic Microneedles Using 3D Printed Templates
#poster25 #PCAMM2021 #microneedles

[Martina Iapichino @martinaiapi]

@Kirsty_Gardner_ Yes, I am looking forward to having more data on that and show them too! :)

[Martina Iapichino @martinaiapi]

@Kirsty_Gardner_ During the fabrication process the MN structures are more brittle than the final metal MN, but they are anyway pretty robust. I usually have ~95% or higher success rate.

[Martina Iapichino @martinaiapi]

@Kirsty_Gardner_ After being fabricated they are not sterile. Like all medical products they need to go into a final sterilization step before being used on humans. They are metallic, so they can be compatible with heat and radiation sterilization, but we haven't tested them on humans yet.

[Martina Iapichino @martinaiapi]

@Kirsty_Gardner_ Like all needles, after a long use or if pressed against a very hard surface, they will eventually get damaged or broken though.

[Martina Iapichino @martinaiapi]

@Kirsty_Gardner_ Once the fabrication process is completed, the microneedles are hard enough to penetrate the skin without breaking.
They can usually penetrate into polymers with a Young's modulus much greater than the one of skin for several times, without showing any sign of damage.

[Martina Iapichino @martinaiapi]

@Kirsty_Gardner_ Thanks! Can I please ask to clarify if you are referring about breaking them during the fabrication process itself, or once they are fully fabricated?

[Martina Iapichino @martinaiapi]

@melissaaradford @Gates_Group Very interesting and very explicative! Thanks! Can you please tell a bit more about the final applications of these nanoparticles?

[Martina Iapichino @martinaiapi]

@Vishal_Yeddu @MSaidaminov @chemistryatuvic @UVicCAMTEC Interesting topic! How much cheaper would this kind of technology be compared to silicon solar cells?

[Martina Iapichino @martinaiapi]

@YukiHaruta_ So cool! Can you please specify how long did it take to grow that crystal?

[Martina Iapichino @martinaiapi]

@BenB_UBC Thanks for your comment! They are supposed to be almost painless. Previous studies on pain perception with microneedles of similar size show a reduction in perceived pain.

[Martina Iapichino @martinaiapi]

@BenB_UBC Gill, Harvinder S et al. “Effect of microneedle design on pain in human volunteers.” The Clinical journal of pain vol. 24,7 (2008): 585-94. doi:10.1097/AJP.0b013e31816778f9