Advances in Design and Engineering of Viral Vectors for Gene Therapy

Dear Colleagues,

Viral vectors are an essential tool in gene therapy and represent the vast majority of gene transfer means both in clinical studies and market-approved products. First-generation vectors were based on a minimal set of molecular changes, relative to the corresponding wild-type viruses, providing that reasonable safety and efficacy standards were achieved. Since then, numerous technological advances have been in the viral vector-mediated gene therapy field. In this scope, engineering viral particles with tailored-design features, also known as designer vectors – is gaining traction in recent years. Leveraged by the latest developments in the fields of virology, immunology, molecular biology, and bioproduction engineering, among others, designer vectors have the potential to significantly improve the safety, efficacy, and specificity of viral gene therapy.

This special issue focuses on the latest advances in design and engineering of viral vectors for gene therapy, including but not limited to:

• developments to produce new and/or improve viral vectors based on viruses not commonly used in gene therapy;
• molecular and/or synthetic biology approaches to create viral vectors with specific properties;
• tuning of vector immunogenicity, genotoxicity, or any other limitation to safe and efficient gene delivery;
• appending of enzymes or other molecules (e.g. chemicals, biomaterials) to facilitate transgene delivery or to modulate vector behavior;
• inclusion of sensors to control transgene expression or vector activity;
• development of chimeric and/or artificial viral particles including, but not exclusively, approaches to modulating vector tropism;
• tools aiding the development and production of designer vectors including, but not limited to, computational methods;
• developments in bioproduction (e.g., cell line development), enabling the production of designer vectors.

Critical reviews and discussions on current challenges and future directions in these topics are also welcome.

Dr. Ana F. Rodrigues
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. Biomedicines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). 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.

• viral gene therapy
• new viral vectors
• designer viral vectors
• vector engineering
• molecular biology
• synthetic biology
• immunomodulation
• vector (bio)chemical conjugation
• sensor vectors
• chimeric or artificial viral particles
• tools to create designer vectors
• bioproduction systems for designer vectors