But what if those could be puffed through the skin instead, with just a little pressure, like being hit in the arm with a foam toy?

Today, scientists report steps toward making that a reality. Using powdered vaccines that don't require refrigeration and a system driven by compressed gas, their "MOF-Jet" could easily deliver therapeutics against cancer and other diseases in a painless and less fear-inducing way.

The idea for the project was formed out of pandemic-induced boredom. The project's principal investigator, Jeremiah Gassensmith, Ph.D., had ordered inexpensive pieces of a compressed gas-powered jet injection system to mess around with while stuck at home.

Later, after everyone was back on campus, he handed the pieces over to Yalini Wijesundara, a graduate student in the lab, with the instructions, "See what you can do with this."