Advanced and Intelligent Biomaterials for Precision Delivery of Food Bioactives: From Molecular Design to Fortification Efficacy

Dear Colleagues,

Many bioactive substances from plants, animals, and microorganisms have attracted increasing attention from researchers due to the health benefits they provide the human body. However, their application in foods often faces multiple challenges, such as undesired sensory attributes, poor solubility, and poor physicochemical stability. While conventional encapsulation technologies address these issues, this Special Issue aims to pioneer a more fundamental and intelligent approach by focusing on the frontier of advanced biomaterial design as the engine for next-generation delivery solutions.

We seek to move beyond application reports to highlight how rational material innovation constructs programmable, high-performance carriers. This endeavor encompasses, but is not limited to, the following topics:

1. Rational design and synthesis of novel, food-grade biomaterials (e.g., engineered proteins, structured polysaccharides, self-assembled architectures, upcycled biopolymers) with the development of functional foods and the integration of sustainable technologies.
2. Stimuli-responsive and “smart” delivery systems whose release mechanisms are programmed at the material level to react to specific physiological or processing triggers.
3. Multi-scale structural engineering of biomaterial-based carriers, linking their molecular/nano-/microstructure to enhanced stability, bioavailability, resistance to environmental stress, controlled release, and targeted delivery performance.
4. Mechanistic insights into the interactions between advanced biomaterial carriers, bioactive compounds, and the human gastrointestinal tract to elucidate the pathways to improved efficacy.

This Special Issue will serve as a dedicated platform for research that places material science and engineering at the core of delivery innovation. We encourage the submission of high-quality original research articles and timely reviews that demonstrate how breakthroughs in advanced and intelligent biomaterials are driving the future of precision delivery and fortification in foods.

Dr. Jinju Cheng
Dr. Xing Li
Guest Editors

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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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. Foods 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 2900 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.