Advances in Natural or Synthetic Biomaterials for Developing Micro or Nano Drug Delivery Systems II

Dear Colleagues,

Biomaterials (natural or synthetic) have been used extensively for the development of composite or conjugated nano and/or micro delivery systems such as particles or self-assembled hydrogels. Additionally, various organic and organometallic systems have helped in designing theranostic agents for the treatment of acute or chronic diseases. Over the past decade, bio-nanomaterials have been modified (physically or chemically) to develop improved target specific therapies. For instance, the development of surface-tagged nanoparticles for targeted cancer therapy and the development of pH-sensitive injectable and implantable soft gels have played important roles in designing site- or disease-specific smart deliveries. After gaining considerable knowledge about the development of synthetic polymeric designs, we are moving into the classical era of using the science of biomimetics to develop smart sustainable green formulations (such as polysaccharides, lipids, proteins, or DNA nanoparticles or gels) that can mimic the treatment site or conditions. These materials use a soft formulation synthesis procedure that could help in the delivery of proteins, genes, and other macromolecules, with minimal damage caused to their structures. These biomaterials are used in their native, composite, or semi-synthetic state with various other natural or synthetic biomaterials to improve their physicochemical properties in order to obtain the desired micro, nano, or gel-based particle formulations for specific therapeutic applications.

Looking at the advances made in the field of formulation science, in the present Special Issue we invite researchers to contribute short reviews, full reviews, short communications, research manuscripts, or letters to the editor in the field of micro or nano drug delivery systems (including particles, fibers, exosomes, hydrogels, and other hybrid theranostic systems) for the treatment of chronic or acute conditions. We invite researchers who are involved in the development and characterization of novel biomaterials (synthetic or composites) with potential for being used in the development of the abovementioned delivery systems. Researchers working with carbon-based (carbon nanotubes, fullerenes, nano diamonds, and others) and metallic nanoparticles (gold, silver, magnetic nanoparticles, and others) for biomedical applications are also encouraged to submit their work for publication in this Special Issue. We also invite clinical investigators and pharmacologists who are involved in developing pharmacokinetic/dynamics, molecular, and cell biology assays aiming to decipher the mechanisms of novel biomaterials or drug delivery platforms to contribute to our Special Issue.

Dr. Ankit K. Rochani
Dr. Todd Camenisch
Dr. Vivek Dave
Guest Editors

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