Biopolymers for Enhanced Health Benefits—2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

In recent times, biopolymers have gained increasing importance among research groups around the world as biomaterials for a variety of biological activities. Plants, yeast, fungi, bacteria, and mammals are among the living species that produce biopolymers. Biopolymers are polymers that fall into three categories: polysaccharides, proteins, and nucleic acids. Biopolymers play a variety of critical roles in these living creatures, including in their structure, signaling, defense, pathogenicity, and so on. Biopolymers have a diverse chemical structure, and their physicochemical properties make them suitable for clinical, biomedical, and pharmaceutical applications due to their versatile characteristics, such as their biocompatibility, biodegradability, and low immunogenicity, which are key features in the design of novel advanced materials. Furthermore, the modification of biopolymers with different functional groups has resulted in improved features such as the generation of stimuli-responsive materials, improved interaction with guest biomolecules, and physical property enhancements. As a result, several systems using biopolymers in a variety of formulations (i.e., hydrogels, fibers, films, micro/nanoparticles, etc.) have been developed for application in multiple domains, such as tissue engineering, scaffolds, implant coatings, drug delivery, nutraceutical encapsulation systems, wound healing, bioimaging, for diagnostic purposes, and so on. Furthermore, antibacterial, antibiofilm, anticancer, antidiabetic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiparasitic, and antiviral actions have been demonstrated in biopolymer-based advanced materials.

Since Volume 1 of the Special Issue “Biopolymers for Enhanced Health Benefits” was successful, we have reopened this issue again for the International Journal of Molecular Sciences (https://0-www-mdpi-com.brum.beds.ac.uk/journal/ijms, ISSN 1422-0067, IF 5.6, JCR Category Q1). This Special Issue intends to collate recent original reviews and cutting-edge research works that focus on the innovative biopolymer-based materials employed in pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, and biomedical science.

Prof. Dr. Leonard-Ionut Atanase
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• nanocomposites
• biomedical materials
• stimuli-responsive materials
• wound healing
• biomaterials
• tissue engineering
• regenerative medicine
• targeted and controlled drug delivery
• in vitro and in vivo biological activities
• polymers for biomedical application
• surface modification and their characterization
• antibacterial & antiviral
• microbial biofilms
• medical-related antimicrobial/antiviral polymers