Gels for Anti-Infective Treatment and Drug-Delivery
A special issue of Gels (ISSN 2310-2861). This special issue belongs to the section "Gel Applications".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 14 November 2025 | Viewed by 71
Special Issue Editors
Interests: nanoformulations; drug delivery systems; drug release; polymeric nanoparticles; liposomes
Interests: hybrid nanosystems; lipid nanovesicles; polymeric nanosystems; mechanisms of drug release; smart drug carriers
Interests: preclinical studies; clinical pharmacology; infectious disease; pharmaceutical formulations; animal models
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
We invite you to contribute to a Special Issue of Gels titled “Gels for Anti-Infective Treatment and Drug Delivery”. This Special Issue welcomes both research and review manuscripts focused on the development and application of gel-based formulations for anti-infective therapies and drug delivery.
The treatment of infectious diseases has seen significant progress through innovative drug delivery systems, with gels playing a pivotal role in enhancing therapeutic efficacy. Hydrogels, nanogels, and hybrid gel-based nanosystems provide advantages such as high water content, biocompatibility, prolonged drug release, and the ability to protect active pharmaceutical ingredients from degradation. These materials can be engineered for controlled, targeted, and stimuli-responsive drug delivery, improving treatment outcomes while reducing side effects.
Additionally, gel-based nanoformulations have emerged as promising platforms for antimicrobial, antifungal, and antiviral applications. Their ability to encapsulate therapeutic agents at the nanoscale enhances bioavailability, enables site-specific drug release, and minimizes systemic toxicity. Given their versatility, gels can be designed in multiple physical forms, including nanoparticles, coatings, films, or injectable formulations, making them suitable for a wide range of biomedical applications.
This Special Issue will focus on recent advancements in gel-based drug delivery systems for anti-infective treatments, exploring drug–gel interactions, release mechanisms, and strategies to enhance therapeutic performance. Contributions discussing nano-enabled gel formulations and their role in treating infections at different physiological sites (e.g., skin, mucosa, wounds, biofilms) are particularly encouraged.
Furthermore, we aim to highlight emerging trends in AI-assisted design of gel-based drug delivery systems, where artificial intelligence (AI) can optimize drug loading, predict release kinetics, and accelerate the development of next-generation therapeutic platforms.
This Special Issue aims to provide a comprehensive overview of current trends and future directions in the use of gels for anti-infective therapy and drug delivery, bridging the gap between laboratory research and clinical applications.
We look forward to your valuable contributions!
Dr. Fawzia Sha’at
Dr. Ramona Daniela Păvăloiu
Prof. Dr. Denisa Udeanu
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 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. Gels 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 2100 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.
Keywords
- gel-based drug delivery
- hydrogels and nanogels
- anti-infective therapy
- hybrid nanosystems
- stimuli-responsive gels
- controlled drug release
- nanoformulations
- biocompatible gels
- polymeric drug delivery systems
- AI-driven formulation design
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