Insights into targeting nanomaterials for drug delivery

The design and fabrication of nanomaterials for cell-specific or organelle-specific delivery of drugs are crucial areas of ongoing research, particularly relevant for biopharmaceutics and personalised medicine. Targeting these nanomaterials relies on an understanding of the biological systems involved in drug delivery. Essential to this understanding are insights into cellular pathways, receptor interactions, and immune responses, which inform the design of nanomaterials capable of delivering drugs effectively to specific cells or tissues while minimising unintended effects.

Nanomaterials serving as nanocarriers can provide increased drug bioavailability, reduced side-effects, and improved treatment efficacy for disease-relevant clinical applications. However, achieving precise targeting poses challenges, including ensuring the stability of nanomaterials, understanding their interactions with biological systems, assessing their biocompatibility, and unravelling their potential toxicity mechanisms. These complexities arise from the diverse array of cell types and the variations in intracellular environments. These constrains may limit the targeting approach of novel nanomaterials, hindering their translation to clinical settings. A comprehensive and integrated analysis of targeted nanomaterials design, validation and application could greatly improve the translation of these novel nanocarriers into real-world scenarios.

This Special Issue of the British Journal of Biomedical Science (Impact Factor of 2.7 and Citescore of 4.4) seeks to address current methods in nanomaterials design and fabrication for targeted drug delivery, approaches for cell-specific or organelle-specific delivery of drugs, and evidence of translational application in vitro and in vivo. We welcome original research papers and reviews that provide new insights into the design and application of nanomaterials in drug delivery systems that point to downstream clinical applications. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Novel biomaterials for targeted nanoparticle drug delivery
• Innovative fabrication methods for drug delivery nanomaterials
• Cell-specific or organelle-specific drug delivery strategies
• Targeting ligands and receptor interactions
• Intracellular trafficking and release
• Biocompatibility and toxicity assessment
• Translational challenges and clinical applications of nanomaterial-based drug delivery systems in health and disease.

Any questions? Please email the Editorial Office.

IBMS Members
IBMS members can benefit from a full waiver of the APC and should email the Editorial Office with their IBMS membership reference number prior to submission of the manuscript to confirm their waiver.