Nanomedicine and advanced drug delivery platforms are reshaping modern therapeutics by enabling targeted, controlled, and tissue-specific delivery of small molecules, biologics, and nucleic acids. At the same time, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are rapidly transforming pharmaceutical R&D by accelerating target identification, formulation design, and predictive modeling of drug behavior. Multi-omics, advanced molecular pathology, and high-resolution imaging are elucidating the complex mechanisms governing disease progression, therapeutic response, and microenvironmental adaptation. This Research Topic will unify these rapidly advancing fields—drug delivery and nanomedicine, mechanistic pharmacology, and AI-driven design—into a single integrative framework. The goal is to highlight how mechanistic insights, computational tools, and precision dosing strategies can rationally guide the design and clinical translation of smart, responsive, and long-acting delivery systems for next-generation precision pharmacology.
Advances in nanomedicine, smart drug delivery, and AI are converging to reshape the future of precision therapeutics. However, despite rapid progress, major challenges remain: nano-carriers frequently show heterogeneous in vivo performance, molecular mechanisms underlying variable patient responses are poorly integrated into formulation design, and AI/ML models are underutilized in guiding rational development, dosing, and clinical translation. This Research Topic aims to address these gaps by bringing together multidisciplinary research that integrates mechanistic insights, computational prediction, and translational pharmacology. By linking molecular pathology, microenvironmental biology, and pharmacokinetics with AI-driven modeling and nano-scale engineering, we seek to highlight strategies that deliver drugs more accurately, effectively, and safely. The ultimate goal is to establish an evidence-based framework showing how AI-enabled tools and mechanistic understanding can accelerate the design, optimization, and clinical readiness of next-generation smart and responsive delivery systems.
This Research Topic welcomes submissions that advance the integration of AI, nanomedicine, and mechanistic pharmacology. Key themes include:
• AI/ML-driven design and optimization of nano- and smart delivery systems • Molecular mechanisms of disease, resistance, and microenvironmental modulation relevant to targeted delivery • Stimuli-responsive and bioresponsive carriers • Translational pharmacology of nano-enabled systems (PK/PD, biodistribution, safety, immunogenicity) • Regulatory, CMC, and manufacturing considerations for complex drug products
We particularly seek studies demonstrating how mechanistic insight or computational modeling enhances formulation design, precision dosing, or clinical translation. Manuscript types of interest include Original Research, Reviews and Mini-Reviews, Perspectives, Methods, Brief Research Reports, and relevant Clinical Trial or Case Reports.
Article types and fees
This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:
Brief Research Report
Case Report
Clinical Trial
Editorial
FAIR² Data
General Commentary
Hypothesis and Theory
Methods
Mini Review
Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.
Article types
This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:
Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
