Drugs and vaccines could be freed from cold chains by hydrogel

A stiff hydrogel could end the need for vaccines and gene therapies to be refrigerated, potentially revolutionising the storage and transportation of vital, life-saving medicines.

Cold supply chain management is currently the best solution suppliers have for keeping active biological molecules, like mRNA, proteins and viruses, stable during distribution. However, it requires specialised handling and infrastructure, and incurs significant energy costs, limiting distribution.

‘A single ultralow temperature freezer can use as much electricity per day as a small household,’ says study author Matthew Gibson at the University of Manchester. ‘Addressing this may help with sustainability but crucially [would] allow advanced therapies to be shared more widely … to locations with less developed energy infrastructure.’