Nanotheranostics and Artificial Intelligence to Combat the COVID-19 Pandemic

Dear Colleagues,

Severe acute respiratory symptoms, which emerged due to beta-coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), caused a serious disease (COVID-19 pandemic), which has affected more than 17 million people around the world. Even though scientists started investigating the virus as early as December 2019, this disease has been spreading consistently due to the lack of knowledge about: 1) SARS-CoV-2’s structure, strains, and functionality under varying conditions, including race and region; 2) diagnostic systems to identify infection at early and mature stages, and monitor the progression of the disease along with prescribed therapy efficacy, and 3) highly efficient therapeutic agents without side effects.

The development of SARS-CoV-2 detection systems was greatly supported by artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) for the prediction and optimization of operational and performance parameters. The outcomes of this research are highly significant and are moving towards federal approval to promote and execute the management of the COVID-19 pandemic and generate the bio-information necessary to understand the nature of SARS-CoV-2 and its pathological correlations, ultimately leading to the design and development of therapeutic agents including vaccines. Keeping these outcomes in view, AI has also been utilized to identify an optimal drug, among thousands of candidates, to prescribe to patients. Among other benefits, this approach prevents the wasting of resources on unnecessary drug trials. Although the contribution of AI in combating the COVID-19 pandemic has generated some interest, more attention is required to explore these possibilities further.

Developing an effective therapeutic agent for COVID-19 infection management via recognizing and eradicating SARS-CoV-2 is a current research focus. State-of-the-art efforts are directed towards developing treatments in the form of novel vaccines, genes, and anti-viral drugs. However, recent research has indicated that SARS-CoV-2 not only affects the lungs, but may also have reservoirs in other organs such as the gut, liver or brain. Thus, the targeted delivery of therapeutic and diagnostic agents might pose a challenge. The solution to this problem will require very well-optimized nanotechnology that can successfully deliver a targeted agent without losing its functionality and producing side effects in the human body. Thus, the nanotherapeutics approach supported by AI is essentially required for the intelligent management of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, such a combinational approach will be useful in developing therapies with reduced form factors based on nanosystems, which can eradicate SARS-CoV-2, inhibit SARS-CoV-2 replication, protect human immune systems, or all of these.

Taking challenges, state-of-the-art technology, and demand into consideration, this Special Issue welcomes technical notes, reviews, or research articles focused on exploring AI, nanotheranostics, or both, to combat SARS-CoV-2 and manage the COVID-19 pandemic. We particularly welcome contributions that include, but are not limited to, the following topics and their application for addressing COVID-19’s challenges:

• Nanosystems;
• Theragnostic approaches;
• Nanomedicine;
• Nano-assisted multi-functional approaches;
• Artificial Intelligence;
• Therapy development.

Dr. Ajeet Kaushik
Dr. Hardik A. Gohel
Guest Editors

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• nanotheranostics
• COVID-19
• nanotechnology
• artificial intelligence
• nanotherapeutics
• nanomedicine