IIT Bombay researchers develop painless needle-free shock syringes  

IIT Bombay's research introduces a painless shock syringe for efficient drug delivery, promising a revolution in medical treatments.

As a relief to many patients who fear getting pricked by injections, latest research by Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) promises a painless syringe experience for all kinds of medical treatments.  

The research led by Professor Viren Menezes from the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the (IIT Bombay) has worked a way around to deliver drugs without needles by developing a shock syringe.  

The study published in the Journal of Biomedical Materials and Devices, the IIT Bombay researchers compared the effectiveness of drug delivery by a shock syringe versus a regular needle on laboratory rats. 

“Unlike syringes with needles, the shock syringe does not rely on piercing the skin with a sharp tip. Instead, it uses high-energy pressure waves (shock waves) that can travel faster than the speed of sound to pierce the skin. These waves, when generated, compress the surrounding medium, such as air or liquid, through which they travel. A similar effect happens during a sonic boom; when an aircraft flies faster than the speed of sound, it creates shock waves that push and disturb the air,” Mr. Menezes explained.  

The shock syringe, developed earlier in 2021 in Professor Menezes’s lab, is slightly longer than a regular ballpoint pen. The device has a micro shock tube consisting of three sections: the driver, driven, and drug holder, which work together to create the shockwave-driven microjet for drug delivery.  

Pressurised nitrogen gas is applied to the shock syringe that is the driver section of micro shock tube part, it is filled with liquid drugs to create a microjet of the drug. The microjet travels at a speed nearly twice as fast as a commercial aeroplane at takeoff. This jet stream of liquid drug passes through the nozzle of the syringe before penetrating the skin. The entire process of delivering drugs using a shock syringe is rapid and gentle; most patients wouldn’t feel a thing, Mr. Menezes explained.  

Priyanka Hankare, research scholar and lead author of the study said, “The shock syringe is designed to deliver medication rapidly. However, if a regular syringe is inserted too quickly or with excessive force, it can cause unnecessary trauma to the skin or underlying tissues.”