The effectiveness and efficiency of disease treatment are greatly influenced by the heterogeneity of the disease, hence precision medicine draws growing attention in recent decades. To realize precise treatment, smart materials are frequently used due to their responsiveness to stimuli. Plentiful biological applications including drug delivery, cell ablation, protein inactivation, etc., were accomplished with the assistance of smart materials which can alter their properties under the induction of stimuli such as temperature, electricity, magnetism, moisture, pH, and light, etc. However, the development of more suitable smart materials for precision medicine, especially for clinical usages, still challenges chemists, material scientists, biologists, and physicians.
To achieve precise therapy, smart materials can provide proper spatial-temporal control over treatment processes, such as cargo delivery, mechanics modulation, reactive oxygen species production, pH control, etc. Hence, two main aspects are crucial for this purpose, one is the localization of smart materials which mainly depends on smart materials itself, and the other one is the performance of smart materials which depends on the disease-treatment path. Smart materials should process desired properties to realize therapy treatment. There are many mechanisms developed in recent decades such as photo-, heat- or magnetic- responsiveness, for controlled localization, and more original mechanisms appealing for this field. In addition, the ways of the integration of the smart material, such as nanoparticles, hydrogels and vesicles, are also hot topics for precise medicine of smart materials. An in-depth clarification of disease-treatment pathways is equally critical as it greatly influences the rational design of advanced tailorable biomaterials to match the patient's variability.
The research topic on smart materials and precision medicine is focused on the multi-disciplinary subject of materials and medicine. Mostly, manuscripts on these points are appealing, including the new mechanisms or fabrication techniques of smart materials for disease-treatment, the clarification of disease-treatment path of existing smart materials, or the realization of precision medicine with existing smart materials by original methods. For authors' convenience, the key topics are given below (not restricted to these topics):
1. Original materials with photo-, heat-, magnetic-, electric-, or pH-responsiveness (or other new mechanisms) for disease treatment;
2. Useful fabrication methods for disease-treatment smart materials, such as vesicles, nanoparticles, hydrogels;
3. The investigations on the mechanism - signal pathways underlying the precise treatment of smart materials;
4. Smart biomaterials for diagnostics and omics profiling;
5. Advanced 3D culture system using smart materials to culture 3D organoids and patient's derived cells.
The effectiveness and efficiency of disease treatment are greatly influenced by the heterogeneity of the disease, hence precision medicine draws growing attention in recent decades. To realize precise treatment, smart materials are frequently used due to their responsiveness to stimuli. Plentiful biological applications including drug delivery, cell ablation, protein inactivation, etc., were accomplished with the assistance of smart materials which can alter their properties under the induction of stimuli such as temperature, electricity, magnetism, moisture, pH, and light, etc. However, the development of more suitable smart materials for precision medicine, especially for clinical usages, still challenges chemists, material scientists, biologists, and physicians.
To achieve precise therapy, smart materials can provide proper spatial-temporal control over treatment processes, such as cargo delivery, mechanics modulation, reactive oxygen species production, pH control, etc. Hence, two main aspects are crucial for this purpose, one is the localization of smart materials which mainly depends on smart materials itself, and the other one is the performance of smart materials which depends on the disease-treatment path. Smart materials should process desired properties to realize therapy treatment. There are many mechanisms developed in recent decades such as photo-, heat- or magnetic- responsiveness, for controlled localization, and more original mechanisms appealing for this field. In addition, the ways of the integration of the smart material, such as nanoparticles, hydrogels and vesicles, are also hot topics for precise medicine of smart materials. An in-depth clarification of disease-treatment pathways is equally critical as it greatly influences the rational design of advanced tailorable biomaterials to match the patient's variability.
The research topic on smart materials and precision medicine is focused on the multi-disciplinary subject of materials and medicine. Mostly, manuscripts on these points are appealing, including the new mechanisms or fabrication techniques of smart materials for disease-treatment, the clarification of disease-treatment path of existing smart materials, or the realization of precision medicine with existing smart materials by original methods. For authors' convenience, the key topics are given below (not restricted to these topics):
1. Original materials with photo-, heat-, magnetic-, electric-, or pH-responsiveness (or other new mechanisms) for disease treatment;
2. Useful fabrication methods for disease-treatment smart materials, such as vesicles, nanoparticles, hydrogels;
3. The investigations on the mechanism - signal pathways underlying the precise treatment of smart materials;
4. Smart biomaterials for diagnostics and omics profiling;
5. Advanced 3D culture system using smart materials to culture 3D organoids and patient's derived cells.