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://www.mdpi.com/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

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