Biomaterials for the Treatment and Diagnosis of Neurodegenerative Diseases

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue “Biomaterials for the treatment and diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases” will cover a selection of recent research topics on the applications of biomaterials in neurodegenerative diseases. In this way, this issue is dedicated to showing the interdisciplinary research encompassing elements of medicine, biology, chemistry, tissue engineering, and materials science. Among a large number of diseases, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) are the most common neurodegenerative diseases. For instance, at present, more than 47 million people worldwide suffer from AD, and the number is predicted to exceed 130 million by 2050. Despite this importance, both diseases lack definite diagnostic approaches and an effective cure. As a consequence of the increasing prevalence of AD and PD and the low efficacy of current therapies, the development of treatment and diagnosis strategies have increased in the last years. The emerging field of biomaterials—and their relation with the nanotechnology—has promised new techniques to solve some of the AD/PD challenges. Nanotechnology uses engineered biomaterials or devices that can interact with biological systems at molecular levels with a high degree of specificity. Biomaterials are widely used in the fields of drug delivery, early diagnosis, and functional tissue engineering. One of the major problems with respect to the treatment and diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases is to overcome the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Some biomaterials are able to cross the BBB, and this fact makes possible the increase of the drug availability in the central nervous systems, as well as the detection of biomarkers of neurodegenerative diseases in biological fluids.

We invite researchers to contribute original and review articles regarding the impact of Biomaterials in the treatment and diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases. Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• nanoparticles
• liposomes
• microparticles
• scaffolds
• nanodevices
• nanosized chips
• quantum dots

Prof. Dr. Joan Estelrich
Dr. Raimon Sabaté
Guest Editors

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