Core shell microparticles developed in the Jaklenec/Langer Lab are designed to hold vaccines or immunotherapies and release them over days or months through controlled degradation of the encapsulating polymers.

To determine whether immune cells in the skin will affect release timing, researchers first study the immune response to an unfilled microparticle after injection. This slice shows immune cells (green) on the interior surface of the polymer shell (red) beneath its biodegraded cap (blue/pink).  Further classification of the cells will predict their interaction with the particles’ eventual cargo.