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Advances in Nanomaterials for Gene Therapy and Genome Editing

Guest Editors:

Prof. Guojun Chen: McGill University, Canada
Prof. Mingqiang Li: Sun Yat-sen University, China
Prof. Yuanming Cheng: Nanjing University, China
Prof. Zhongmin Tang: Tongji University, China

Submission Status: Open   |   Submission Deadline: 15 March 2024


New Content ItemJournal of Nanobiotechnology is calling for our collection on Advances in Nanomaterials for Gene Therapy and Genome Editing. Gene therapy and genome editing are at the forefront of modern medicine, with remarkable potential to impact the prevention, intervention, and diagnosis of a wide range of diseases. These fields involve the introduction of therapeutic genes into cells to correct underlying genetic problems, and the precise modification of specific regions of the genome through targeted enzymes for accurate diagnosis and targeted treatments of genetic disorders. One of the biggest challenges in these fields is the development of safe and effective delivery systems to transport therapeutic genes or genome editing tools into target cells. Advances in biomaterials engineering have led to the creation of new and improved drug delivery methods for gene therapy and genome editing, including both viral and non-viral vectors, which have shown promising results in preclinical and clinical studies.
 

Image Credit: Ilya Lukichev / Getty Images / iStock

This Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 3.

Meet the Guest Editors

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Prof. Guojun Chen: McGill University, Canada

Dr. Guojun Chen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and a Full Member of the Rosalind & Morris Goodman Cancer Institute (GCI) at McGill University. Dr. Chen received his bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Nankai University in 2012 and obtained his doctoral degree in Materials Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2017. He did his postdoctoral training at UCLA before he joined McGill. His research focuses on developing biomaterials and devices for various applications in cancer immunotherapy, gene therapy, and genome editing. He has published over 70 peer-reviewed research papers, including in Nature Nanotechnology, PNAS, Nature Biomedical Engineering, and Science Advances. He currently serves as an editorial board member of Biomaterials and an Associate Editor for Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology. Dr. Chen is the recipient of the Young Investigator award from the Chinese Association for Biomaterials and the Fonds de Recherche du Québec-Santé (FRQS)-Career Award (Junior 1).
 

Prof. Mingqiang Li: Sun Yat-sen University, China

Dr. Mingqiang Li is a Professor of Molecular Medicine at Sun Yat-sen University. He received his B.S. degree from University of Science and Technology of China in 2009 and obtained his Ph.D. degree under the supervision of Prof. Xuesi Chen from Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in 2015. From 2015 to 2018, he carried out postdoctoral research with Prof. Kam W. Leong at Columbia University. He serves on the editorial board of Biomaterials, Journal of Tissue Engineering, Chinese Chemical Letters, and Med-X. His current research is mainly focused on biomaterials and nanomedicines.
 

Prof. Yuanming Cheng: Nanjing University, China

Dr. Yuanming Cheng received his BS degree from the Ocean University of China and a PhD degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2016. After five years of post-doctoral training at the Molecular Pharmacology Program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, he joined the Institute of Modern Biology at Nanjing University as an assistant professor and independent principal investigator in 2021. His research is mainly focused on understanding the epigenetic regulation in stem cell biology as well as cancer development and identifying new therapeutic methods for cancer.
 

Prof. Zhongmin Tang: Tongji University, China

Dr. Zhongmin Tang received his B.E. in Materials Sciences and Engineering from Shandong University (2014), and Ph.D. in Materials Physic and Chemistry from Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2019). He held a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) from August 2019 to July 2021, and currently holds a Research Associate position in the Department of Radiology at the University of Wisconsin Madison. He will join the department of medicine at Tongji University in March 2023. He has so far published 40 peer reviewed papers in prestigious journals such as Nature Reviews Materials (1), Chemical Reviews (1), Chemical Society Reviews (1), PNAS (1), Nature communications (1), Advanced Materials (4), Angewandte Chemie International Edition (3)), Matter (4), Chem (1), Chemical Society Review (1), Nano Today (3), Advanced Science (2), Nano Letters (2), Materials Horizons (2) etc. His work has received extensive attention (Citations: 4400; H index: 27). Dr. Tang has guest edited a special topic for Frontiers in Chemistry (IF: 5.22) Frontiers in Oncology, and is the Section editor for Current Medicinal Chemistry (IF: 4.35) and the Academic Editor for Exploration. He is an active reviewer for some journals such as Chemical Society Reviews , Bioative Materials , Chemical Science, ACS applied materials & interfaces, Journal of Nanobiotechnology and Frontiers in Chemistry.
 


About the collection

The Journal of Nanobiotechnology invites researchers and scientists to submit their work for publication in the collection on “Advances in Nanomaterials for Gene Therapy and Genome Editing”. This collection aims to showcase both original research articles on new scientific discoveries and review articles highlighting recent progress and challenges in these fields. The goal is to provide different perspectives and broaden the knowledge base, while also opening opportunities for discussions and further exploration.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Innovative nanoformulations for gene therapy and genome editing
• Viral-based delivery systems for gene therapy and genome editing
• Novel applications of biomaterials-assisted gene therapy and genome editing 
• Evaluation of the safety and efficacy of delivery systems 
• Preclinical and clinical studies of biomaterials-mediated gene therapy and genome editing

  1. Currently, there is an increasing amount of evidence indicating that exosomes and the miRNAs they contain are crucial players in various biological processes. However, the role of exosomes and miRNAs in snake ...

    Authors: Tianci Liao, Mailin Gan, Yanhao Qiu, Yuhang Lei, Qiuyang Chen, Xingyu Wang, Yiting Yang, Lei Chen, Ye Zhao, Lili Niu, Yan Wang, Shunhua Zhang, Li Zhu and Linyuan Shen
    Citation: Journal of Nanobiotechnology 2023 21:356
  2. DNA nanoparticles hold great promise for a range of biological applications, including the development of cutting-edge treatments and diagnostic tests. Their subnanometer-level addressability enables precise, ...

    Authors: Liuru Fang, Chen Shi, Yuhua Wang, Zuzhao Xiong and Yumei Wang
    Citation: Journal of Nanobiotechnology 2023 21:290

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of Research Articles. Before submitting your manuscript, please ensure you have read our submission guidelines. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select "Advances in Nanomaterials for Gene Therapy and Genome Editing" from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Guest Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Guest Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.