Application of Marine Chitin and Chitosan

Dear Colleagues,

The biopolymer chitin and its deacetylated derivative chitosan may be derived from marine material, such as the exoskeletons of crustaceans, squid pens, and marine sponges. Both chitin and chitosan have unique properties that provide advantages for biomedical applications, most notably biocompatibility and biodegradability.  Functional groups within chitin and chitosan polymers allow for facile tuning of their chemical properties, enabling the fabrication of chitosan derivatives or the conjugation of therapeutic molecules to the biopolymers. The abundance and sustainability of naturally derived biopolymers for biomedical applications provide further benefits of chitin- and chitosan-based systems compared to synthetic polymers. Chitin and chitosan are increasingly used as biomaterials to serve a wide range of therapeutic purposes, including antimicrobial preparations, tissue engineered scaffolds, drug delivery devices, transfection agents for gene therapy, and implant coatings.

This Special Issue “Application of Marine Chitin and Chitosan” will provide a platform for researchers to publish studies using these biopolymers and their derivatives in biomedical contexts. We welcome innovative research on biomedical and therapeutic applications of chitin and chitosan.

Dr. Jessica Amber Jennings
Dr. Mallesh Kurakula
Prof. Dr. Tomoko Fujiwara
Dr. Joel D. Bumgardner
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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.