Marine Biomimetics as a Tool for Innovation

Dear Colleagues,

Oceans have always been an unknown realm, but also an inspiration for human creativity. Marine organisms, for example, beyond their consumption as food, can be used as sources of compounds and materials. In this regard, examples are found in marine shells used in construction or agriculture, extracted biopolymers as food, cosmetics or biomedical additives, and secondary metabolites used as new active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), among many others. Nevertheless, the potential of marine resources goes beyond this raw-material provider, and the rich biological architectures and phenomena in the ocean provide inspiration for the exploration of new materials and functionalities. Biomimetics is gaining attention as an emerging technology, and an increasing number of advanced studies have been published on structures based on the morphological features of marine glass sponges or seahorses, on adhesives inspired by mussels, on robots inspired by the movement of jellyfish, on sportswear mimicking fish skin, or on the development of anticancer strategies based on the reduced incidence of tumors in sharks, to name just a few.

This Special Issue aims to collect novel research articles and review articles focusing on marine organisms as an inspiration for the design of innovative biomedical applications and smart materials. A particular focus is given to functional properties arising from complex hierarchical architectures.

Dr. Tiago H. Silva
Prof. Dr. Patrick Flammang
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.