Photodynamic Biology

Dear Colleagues,

Photodynamic action, as originally defined, is oxygen-dependent action. Delta singlet oxygen (D¹O₂) is an extensively studied type II photodynamic action involving excited state molecular oxygen, and it is responsible for modulating numerous cellular functions, including cell secretion, muscle contraction, cellular signaling, cell death and senescence, autophagy, gene transcription and translation, development, and protein oxidation. Although photodynamic action has been extensively studied in the context of diagnosis and therapy in addition to as a research tool for teasing apart specific cellular and molecular details, studies aiming to define the mechanisms of action at the cellular and molecular levels are scattered in the literature, in large numbers of journals and covering multiple disciplines. This Special Issue aims to call for a series of clearly defined cases of photodynamic modulation of biological activities, for example, modulation of all categories of functional proteins as defined by the International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (https://bpspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14765381/2021/178/S1): (1) G protein coupled receptors; (2) ionic channels; (3) transporters; (4) enzymes; (5) catalytic receptors; (6) nuclear hormone receptors; (7) other functional proteins.

The biological or enzyme-catalyzed generation, reaction, and quenching of delta singlet oxygen is of physiological and biochemical significance also of particular interest to this Special Issue. The focus of the contribution could also be on the light source (bioluminescence, for example) driving the photodynamic action photosensitizers (genetically encoded protein photosensitizers, for example) and their tagging patterns to the target of interest (TOI).

It is the hope of this Special Issue, jointly hosted by Biomedicines and Cells, to advance the field in a significant way and identify areas for future investigations in the next decade and beyond.

Contributions in the form of original articles or reviews focused on pivotal topics in the field of photodynamic biology are welcome.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Biomedicines.

Dr. Zong Jie Cui
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. Cells is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2700 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.

• photodynamic action
• autophagy
• singlet oxygen
• cellular function
• functional proteins
• photosensitizers
• phototoxicity
• bioluminescent proteins as light sources