Nano for Health: Strategies and Challenges of Nanotechnology for Drug Delivery

Dear Colleagues,

Nanotechnology has become an excellent platform with many applications in different fields of science, allowing us to control and manipulate matter at the nanoscale by designing and engineering new systems. In the health field, nanotechnology has been shown to be an optimal solution to improve the effectiveness of different drugs. An established strategy for drug delivery consists of encapsulating the drugs in a suitable nanocarrier system. As a result, there is an increased therapeutic index by controlling the rate and site of drug release, solubility and stability. Moreover, nanocarriers can extend a formulation’s action and successfully combine active substances with different degrees of hydrophilicity. However, there also are some associated challenges. Many drug delivery systems lack knowledge of their molecular mechanisms of interaction with the cell. In addition, there is a need for a better characterization and understanding of toxicity issues since the actual knowledge about the fate of nanocarriers is still insufficient. Moreover, the pharma industry is still facing a lack of specific regulation and the cost/benefit ratio needs to be considered and analyzed in each case. Finally, there is also a challenge in the scale-up of nanoparticle manufacturing due to the variety of possible formulations and combinations of nanomaterials.

This Special Issue aims to investigate nanocarrier–drug–tissue interactions. It will focus on how nanocarriers' complex structure influences therapeutic activity and further explore the interactions with the target and mechanism of transport. This issue will also cover the main challenges associated with the production and characterization of these nanocarriers.

Dr. Dragana Barros
Dr. Catarina Pinto Reis
Guest Editors

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