In collaboration with Yıldız Technical University, Marmara University, and Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa, the Joint Application and Research Center of Excellence in Health Biotechnology (SABİOTEK), have developed a 3D-printed microneedle patch system for the treatment of melanoma, one of the most aggressive forms of skin cancer. At the “Euroinvent 2026” competition held in Romania with the participation of 17 countries, the academics won a gold medal and received the WIIPA award for this next-generation application known as microneedle therapy.

Cem Bülent Üstündağ, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Yıldız Technical University and Co-Director of SABİOTEK, provided the following information: 

“In the system we developed, drugs are delivered locally—exclusively to the area where the cancer is present—via microneedles. When we stimulate it with light at a wavelength of 808 nanometers, the quantum dots are activated, causing the system to heat up. This damages the proteins inside the cells in that region, causing the cells to die. It also enables controlled drug release. The cells are both restricted by the heat effect—inducing apoptosis—and damaged by the chemotherapeutic drugs. The drug is delivered by inserting microneedles deep into the tumor region, where it spreads throughout those layers. It’s a direct chemotherapy system applied to the tumor. Chemotherapy is typically administered at different doses over specific intervals. In this method, however, the combined effect of direct hyperthermia and the drug will shorten the treatment duration.”

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