• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.837-841
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• 2008

Propulsion of gene coated micro-particles is desired for non-intrusive drug delivery inside biological tissue. This has been achieved by the development of a device that uses high power laser pulses. The present paper looks at the mechanisms of micro-particle acceleration. Initially, a high power laser pulse is focused onto the front side of a thin aluminium foil leading to its ablation. The ablation front drives a compression wave inside the foil, thus leading to the formation of a shock wave, which will later reflect from the rear side of the foil, due to acoustic impedance mismatch. The reflected wave will induce an opposite motion of the foil, characterized by a very high speed, of the order of several millimeters per microsecond. Micro-particles, which are deposited on the rear side of the foil, thus get accelerated and ejected as micro-projectiles and are able to penetrate several hundreds of micrometers inside tissue-like material. These processes have been observed experimentally by using high-speed shadowgraphy and considered analytically.

• International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.68-71
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• 2008

Transdermal and topical drug delivery with minimal tissue damage has been an area of vigorous research for a number of years. Our research team has initiated the development of an effective method for delivering drug particles across the skin (transdermal) for systemic circulation, and to localized (topical) areas. The device consists of a micro particle acceleration system based on laser ablation that can be integrated with endoscopic surgical techniques. A layer of micro particles is deposited on the surface of a thin metal foil. The rear side of the foil is irradiated with a laser beam, which generates a shockwave that travels through the foil. When the shockwave reaches the end of the foil, it is reflected as an expansion wave and causes instantaneous deformation of the foil in the opposite direction. Due to this sudden deformation, the microparticles are ejected from the foil at very high speeds, and therefore have sufficient momentum to penetrate soft body tissues. We have demonstrated this by successfully delivering cobalt particles $3\;{\mu}m$ in diameter into gelatin models that represent soft tissue with remarkable penetration depth.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.587-593
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• 2008

Transdermal and topical drug delivery with minimal tissue damage has been an area of vigorous research for years. Our research team has initiated the development of an effective method for delivering drug particles across the skin (transdermal) for systemic circulation, and to localized (topical) areas. The device consists of a laser ablation based micro-particle acceleration system that can be integrated with endoscopic surgical techniques. We have successfully delivered 3μm size cobalt particles into gelatin models that represent soft tissue with remarkable penetration depth.