Chronic diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and chronic respiratory diseases, are major global public health challenges, with their incidence and mortality rates continuing to rise. Traditional diagnostic and treatment methods face bottlenecks in precision, long-term management efficiency, and improving patients' quality of life. In recent years, biomedical engineering has driven technological innovations through interdisciplinary integration, advancing from molecular diagnostics to intelligent therapies. Specifically, novel biomaterials such as nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems have become one of the core technologies in biomedical engineering for revolutionizing disease diagnosis and treatment. By integrating molecular imaging and therapeutic strategies, engineered biomaterials can precisely control drug release, enhance targeting, and reduce side effects. Their application range has expanded from cancer treatment to cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases, and chronic inflammation, showing unique advantages in overcoming challenges such as low drug solubility, poor bioavailability, and high systemic toxicity in traditional therapies.
This research topic aims to promote the leap from laboratory research to clinical application by developing biomaterials with clinical transformation prospects through biomedical engineering technology for clinical diagnosis and treatment of chronic diseases. By focusing on the main line of "clinical transformation", the research work of biomaterials with a simple production process, good biological safety, and strong clinical feasibility will be collected and displayed. For example, through the transformation of biomaterials for classic clinical applications through biomedical engineering technology, its application value is optimized, and preclinical research is carried out. In addition, classical drugs can also be nanoassembled to achieve improved diagnostic efficiency or enhanced efficacy through new mechanisms of biological or synergistic effects. Therefore, this special topic welcomes research on the development and application of biomaterials with potential translational clinical applications that address key scientific questions in clinical practice.
This topic is inclined to include research on but is not limited to the following related themes: 1. Development of novel targeted ligands and the preparation of diagnostic-therapeutic integrated nanoprobes to enhance disease imaging diagnostic efficiency and improve precision treatment strategies. 2. Preparation and evaluation of multifunctional nanogels for drug-controlled release delivery, while simultaneously regulating the immune and metabolic microenvironment of lesions, further promoting disease treatment. 3. Design of lesion-specific microenvironment-responsive and photo/thermal/ultrasound-responsive nanomaterials to achieve spatiotemporally controlled drug release for precise drug delivery to tumor sites, diabetic wounds, or areas of chronic inflammation. 4. The application of new technologies or methods optimizes and modifies old drugs to improve the application value of diagnosis or treatment.
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