Health Promoting Bioactives from Marine Algae and Their Holobionts
A special issue of Marine Drugs (ISSN 1660-3397).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 October 2020) | Viewed by 495
Special Issue Editors
Interests: seaweed biology; marine omics; seaweed cultivation; seaweed micropropagation and breeding; seaweed products developments
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: marine bioactives; bioactive lipids; halometabolites; metabolomics; lipidomics; marine algae; nutraceuticals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The marine environment hosts a phenomenal treasure of natural bioactive compounds (BACs), which is taking nutraceutical and pharmaceutical science into a new direction. Marine organisms including micro- and macroalgae (seaweeds), corals, seagrasses, and associated microbes in their holobionts are valuable sources of BACs, including sulfated polysaccharides, proteins, peptides, vitamins, fatty acids, pigments, secondary metabolites, and halometabolites. Considering comprehensive health benefits in treating chronic and degenerative diseases and modulating human gut microbiota positively, promotion of such BACs as functional food and prebiotics in the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries is emerging. This has led to continuous advancement in tools and techniques to discover novel bioactive compounds and subsequent drug developments originated from marine resources.
Despite the extensive research in the field of marine BAC discovery for health and nutrition, only a few have been commercialized successfully. Many of the BACs showing promise in vitro failed to replicate their success in in vivo models. Complexity in biochemical structures, multiple absorption mechanisms or cellular bioavailability of marine BACs in test models present some of the major challenges to the scientific community in discovering and commercializing novel therapeutic drugs. Smart integration of in vitro and in vivo model testing and broad pharmacodynamics/kinetics with formidable omics technologies hold promise in drug discovery with definitive modes of action, thereby eliminating the possibilities of failure down the line.
In this Special Issue, we invite the latest findings on the isolation and characterization of new BACs from marine organisms and their holobionts showing potentials for pharmaceutical applications. We encourage submissions on the latest technological developments in extraction procedures, in vitro and in vivo testing, and omics-informed drug discoveries from marine sources. We also welcome recent trends in screening and clinical trials of BACs and elucidation of synthetic bioactive biomimetics of marine algal origin exhibiting potential health, nutrition, and medicinal benefits. We would also be interested in research discussing ethical, political, and logistics regulations on marine BAC-based drug discoveries. Submissions of original research articles, comprehensive/mini reviews, and communications are welcome within the scope of this Special Issue.
We encourage the authors to send us the tentative abstract for per-check.
Abstract deadline: 15th August 2020
Dr. Manoj Kumar
Dr. Puja Kumari
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. Marine Drugs 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 2900 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
- Bioactive compounds
- Marine plants and algae
- Drug discovery
- Health benefits
- Marine pharmacomics
- Pharmaceuticals
- Nutraceuticals
- Therapeutics
- Green chemistry
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