Natural Macromolecules for Medicine

Dear Colleagues,

Natural macromolecules have been widely used for medical applications, such as pharmaceutical substrates, cell targeting agents, imaging biomarkers, drug delivery systems, prosthetics, and tissue engineering scaffolds. They are obtained from plants, animals, and microbial sources. Natural macromolecules can be divided into carbohydrates, polysaccharides, proteins, nucleic acids, and polyesters based on their physicochemical and biological properties. Natural macromolecules are amenable for ligand conjugation, cross-linking, and other modifications that can be tailored for a range of applications. Natural macromolecules are the presenting components in biological systems and possess high bioactivity and biocompatibility. They not only provide structure integrity and mechanical strength to tissues but communicate intercellularly to help to facilitate and regulate daily cellular processes and tissue renewal functions. Natural macromolecules, including their popular derivatives, are able to provide a versatile profile of desired medical materials. This Special Issue deals with natural macromolecules obtained from different natural sources and provides insights on the physics, chemistry, biological features, medical applications, and marketed products. This Special Issue will provide the opportunity to share knowledge about natural macromolecules, which is essential for scientists from various disciplines and regulatory authorities.

Dr. Qun Wang
Guest Editor

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. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2700 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.