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Pharmaceutics
Special Issues
Biomedical Applications: Advances in Bioengineering and Drug Delivery, 2nd Edition
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Biomedical Applications: Advances in Bioengineering and Drug Delivery, 2nd Edition

A special issue of Pharmaceutics (ISSN 1999-4923). This special issue belongs to the section "Drug Delivery and Controlled Release".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2026 | Viewed by 5253

Editors

Dr. María Carolina Otero

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Guest Editor
Escuela de Química y Farmacia, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Andrés Bello, Santiago 8320000, Chile
Interests: intracellular nanoparticle trafficking; biological properties of natural and synthetic compounds; immunomodulation by biomaterials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Yusser Olguín

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Departamento de Química y Medio Ambiente, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso 2390123, Chile
Interests: nanoformulations; nerve tissue engineering; biomaterials; organ on a chip
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, significant strides have been made in the development of bioengineering and in intelligent drug delivery systems. In the area of bioengineering, there are outstanding advances in biological therapy with proteins and antibodies, the development of new materials for tissue engineering, and the generation of biosensing systems. In parallel, as well as from advances in bioengineering, drug delivery and delivery systems have been successfully researched and developed with the idea of improving efficiency and thus reducing adverse drug effects.

These areas of development include various scientific aspects that must be addressed for the understanding of the processes involved and the development of efficient systems. In this context, the study of physical and chemical interactions between the components of biological systems, the relationships between biochemical mechanisms and the physiological implications of the processes studied have a significant impact on the success of new proposals.

This Special Issue brings together the new results of research related to the different aspects of bioengineering development focused on investigation of therapeutic alternatives, in addition to allowing the incorporation of reviews and short communications that offer readers a broad vision of the capabilities of these developing technologies.

Dr. María Carolina Otero
Prof. Dr. Yusser Olguín
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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pharmaceutics 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

  • biomedicine
  • tissue engineering
  • biomaterials
  • drug carrier
  • biological therapy

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Review

50 pages, 2168 KB  
Review
Protein-Based Nanomaterials for Cancer Therapy: A Comparative and Translational Perspective
by Juan Gonzalez-Valdivieso, Javier Gutiérrez, Jonathan Alexander Vásquez Calero, Sara Escalera-Anzola, Raquel Muñoz, Francisco Javier Arias, M. Ángeles Rojo and Alessandra Girotti
Pharmaceutics 2026, 18(7), 831; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics18070831 - 7 Jul 2026
Viewed by 923
Abstract
Over the past decade, the use of nanomaterials and nanomedical devices has been increasingly explored for cancer treatment. Although the outcomes of conventional therapies have improved patient survival, these approaches still present important limitations for some types of cancer and metastasis. Challenges such [...] Read more.
Over the past decade, the use of nanomaterials and nanomedical devices has been increasingly explored for cancer treatment. Although the outcomes of conventional therapies have improved patient survival, these approaches still present important limitations for some types of cancer and metastasis. Challenges such as poor drug accumulation in solid tumors and lack of specificity and selectivity can be addressed through alternative nanomedicine-based treatments. Among the wide range of nanoplatforms whose composition and shape have been designed for cancer treatment, this review focuses specifically on those based on natural proteins, including advanced carriers and engineered proteins bearing active targeting and/or therapeutic agents. The objective of this review is to provide a comparative and translational analysis of protein-based nanomaterials for cancer therapy, highlighting their unique characteristics, such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, and the ability to integrate bioactive peptides that can trigger or respond to tumor-specific or altered physiological stimuli. Several protein-based nanomedical devices have been developed for theranostic applications, demonstrating enhanced performance in tumor imaging and cancer treatment. This review introduces a structured analytical framework that classifies protein-based nanomaterials according to their biological origin, functional design, and clinical readiness, enabling systematic evaluation across platforms. Rather than providing a descriptive overview, this work offers a structured comparative analysis of protein-based nanomaterials, highlighting design trade-offs, translational challenges, and factors influencing clinical applicability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomedical Applications: Advances in Bioengineering and Drug Delivery, 2nd Edition)
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40 pages, 1741 KB  
Review
An Overview of Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Strategies for 3D-Printed Bioengineered Vascular Stents: Toward Next-Generation Drug Delivery Applications
by Faisal Khaled Aldawood
Pharmaceutics 2026, 18(6), 755; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics18060755 - 21 Jun 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 590
Abstract
Additive manufacturing has emerged as a transformative technology for fabricating complex drug-eluting medical devices, offering unprecedented design freedom and functional integration capabilities. This comprehensive review systematically analyzes 3D printing technologies applied to pharmaceutical device manufacturing, focusing on drug-eluting vascular stents as a representative [...] Read more.
Additive manufacturing has emerged as a transformative technology for fabricating complex drug-eluting medical devices, offering unprecedented design freedom and functional integration capabilities. This comprehensive review systematically analyzes 3D printing technologies applied to pharmaceutical device manufacturing, focusing on drug-eluting vascular stents as a representative application. This review covers six primary additive manufacturing techniques, ranging from high-resolution vat photopolymerization (25 μm resolution) to direct energy deposition, with a focus on their capabilities for produce pharmaceutical devices with controlled drug release properties. Novel 4D/5D/6D printing technologies introduce stimuli-responsive behaviors enabling programmable drug release profiles and adaptive device functionality. Manufacturing process optimization reveals superior design flexibility compared to conventional methods, with 85–95% reduction in design iteration time and elimination of tooling costs for complex geometries. The material landscape encompasses traditional metals (316L stainless steel, cobalt–chromium), biodegradable polymers (polylactic acid, PLA; polycaprolactone, PCL; poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid), PLGA), shape-memory materials (i.e., polymers and alloys capable of recovering a pre-programmed shape upon exposure to a specific stimulus such as body temperature, moisture, or light), and advanced nanocomposites, each offering distinct drug-loading capacities (100–500 μg/cm2) and release kinetics. Critical challenges include standardization requirements (International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 5840 and American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) F2606), pharmaceutical-grade manufacturing protocols, and regulatory pathways for novel drug-device combinations. This review identifies key research priorities including development of biocompatible printing materials, accelerated drug release testing protocols, and scalable manufacturing processes suitable for medical device production. This analysis demonstrates that 3D printing enables integration of multiple pharmaceutical functions within single devices, controlled spatiotemporal drug delivery, and elimination of secondary manufacturing steps for drug coating processes, advancing the development of next-generation therapeutic medical devices. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomedical Applications: Advances in Bioengineering and Drug Delivery, 2nd Edition)
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31 pages, 2438 KB  
Review
Integrative Peptide Drug Development: Chemical Engineering, AI-Driven Design, and Cell-Penetrating Peptides
by Yong Eun Jang, Minjun Kwon, Chan Woo Kwon, Seok Gi Kim, Ji Su Hwang, Nimisha Pradeep George, Seung Ryong Paik, Sampa Misra, Shaherin Basith, Seung Soo Sheen and Gwang Lee
Pharmaceutics 2026, 18(5), 537; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics18050537 - 28 Apr 2026
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3128
Abstract
Peptide therapeutics occupy a unique chemical space between small molecules and biologics, combining high target specificity with structural programmability and favorable safety profiles. Recent regulatory approvals and expanding clinical pipelines underscore the growing therapeutic and commercial relevance of peptide-based drugs. This review outlines [...] Read more.
Peptide therapeutics occupy a unique chemical space between small molecules and biologics, combining high target specificity with structural programmability and favorable safety profiles. Recent regulatory approvals and expanding clinical pipelines underscore the growing therapeutic and commercial relevance of peptide-based drugs. This review outlines chemical modification approaches and contemporary design strategies, and evaluates their impact on proteolytic stability, pharmacokinetics, membrane permeability, and target engagement. We then highlight recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI)-guided peptide drug design, including machine learning models, protein language models, and generative architectures that enable high-throughput activity prediction, property optimization, and de novo sequence generation. These approaches collectively accelerate the traditional discovery–design–validation cycle while reducing experimental attrition through data-driven, structure-informed modeling frameworks. Among these applications, AI also enables the rational design of cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) to enhance intracellular delivery and biological activity. Building on these methodological advances, we further examine their application to peptide therapeutics, with particular emphasis on AI-based predictive models for CPPs as well as on therapeutic applications within the central nervous and pulmonary systems. We conclude by outlining future perspectives and emphasize that the systematic integration of AI-enabled sequence design with rational chemical engineering and advanced delivery technologies, supported by rigorous experimental validation, will be critical for developing robust and clinically durable peptide-based medicines. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomedical Applications: Advances in Bioengineering and Drug Delivery, 2nd Edition)
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