About this Research Topic
Background
Emergence of MDR (multidrug resistant) strains of microorganisms is one of the most worrying challenges in current public health sectors. While most of the popular antibiotics/antimicrobial agents continue to lose efficacy against a range of microbial strains including malaria, TB (tuberculosis), leprosy, hepatitis, meningococcus, strains causing nosocomial infections like Ps. aeruginosa and HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) causing AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), the current scenario of arrival of new antibiotic molecules in the market is less than inspiring. Due to a series of methodological as well as financial hurdles, the emergence of new antibiotics has been a painfully slow affair which can be exemplified by the fact that no major and new antibiotic molecule has entered the market in more than last three decades! While no official data exists, unofficial estimates put the global mortality to be around few million deaths per year due to infectious diseases refractory to conventional broad-spectrum antibiotics including third generation cephalosporins and imipenem/meropenem.
Nanomaterials including NPs (nanoparticles) present with an interesting perspective to the existing crisis of wide-spread antibiotic resistance. With sizes often <100 nm, nanomaterials exhibit unprecedented materialistic properties (e.g. very high reactivity, fluorescence, magnetism, thermal and electrical conductivity) that set the fundamental principles in its metamorphosis into an enabling technology. It is known that nanomaterials harbor significant toxic potential for living organisms including microorganisms that can be utilized in preparingnanoantibiotic preparations. Moreover, the huge influx of physico-chemical data on a multitude of nanomaterials of varied compositions provides a helpful repository to figure out effective synthetic and formulation strategies in order to propel such nanoantibiotic-preparations through the pipeline.
Scope
This Research Topic will try to provide with an ensemble literature distilled out from a mix of Review and Research articles, Commentaries, Opinions and informative Editorials trying to provide a snapshot of the ongoing crisis and display the most promising and upcoming options nanotechnology can provide. Given the interdisciplinary nature of nanotechnology, the edition will try to build upon contributions from academia and stake holders from different domains including physical colloid science, chemistry, pharmacy and medicine. In summary, the scope of this Research Topic will include but not be limited to:
• Various nanoparticulate formulations of antibiotic molecules
• Uses of nanomaterials including NPs as antimicrobial agents
• Different routes of delivery – oral and parenteral
• In vitro and in vivo models
• Implications, opportunities and challenges of translation
• Expert opinions, perspectives and field reports
• Industrial perspectives
Author guidelines
• Authorship is encouraged from various disciplines including chemistry, colloid science, medicine and pharmacy.
• Authorship is encouraged from geographical areas (e.g. South East Asia) where antibiotic resistance is an emerging issue.
• Articles should be written in a succinct manner.
• All submitted articles will first be assessed by the editorial board to determine suitability for further in-depth review.
• Articles which present a balanced scholarly critic of the work will be encouraged. Contributions that only highlight glossy attributes will be returned without external review.
• Authors must stick to the set guidelines for ethical practices by the Frontiers journals.
• The raw data must be uploaded as supporting information wherever suitable.
• Remaining author guidelines given in the journal website prevail.
Emergence of MDR (multidrug resistant) strains of microorganisms is one of the most worrying challenges in current public health sectors. While most of the popular antibiotics/antimicrobial agents continue to lose efficacy against a range of microbial strains including malaria, TB (tuberculosis), leprosy, hepatitis, meningococcus, strains causing nosocomial infections like Ps. aeruginosa and HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) causing AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), the current scenario of arrival of new antibiotic molecules in the market is less than inspiring. Due to a series of methodological as well as financial hurdles, the emergence of new antibiotics has been a painfully slow affair which can be exemplified by the fact that no major and new antibiotic molecule has entered the market in more than last three decades! While no official data exists, unofficial estimates put the global mortality to be around few million deaths per year due to infectious diseases refractory to conventional broad-spectrum antibiotics including third generation cephalosporins and imipenem/meropenem.
Nanomaterials including NPs (nanoparticles) present with an interesting perspective to the existing crisis of wide-spread antibiotic resistance. With sizes often <100 nm, nanomaterials exhibit unprecedented materialistic properties (e.g. very high reactivity, fluorescence, magnetism, thermal and electrical conductivity) that set the fundamental principles in its metamorphosis into an enabling technology. It is known that nanomaterials harbor significant toxic potential for living organisms including microorganisms that can be utilized in preparingnanoantibiotic preparations. Moreover, the huge influx of physico-chemical data on a multitude of nanomaterials of varied compositions provides a helpful repository to figure out effective synthetic and formulation strategies in order to propel such nanoantibiotic-preparations through the pipeline.
Scope
This Research Topic will try to provide with an ensemble literature distilled out from a mix of Review and Research articles, Commentaries, Opinions and informative Editorials trying to provide a snapshot of the ongoing crisis and display the most promising and upcoming options nanotechnology can provide. Given the interdisciplinary nature of nanotechnology, the edition will try to build upon contributions from academia and stake holders from different domains including physical colloid science, chemistry, pharmacy and medicine. In summary, the scope of this Research Topic will include but not be limited to:
• Various nanoparticulate formulations of antibiotic molecules
• Uses of nanomaterials including NPs as antimicrobial agents
• Different routes of delivery – oral and parenteral
• In vitro and in vivo models
• Implications, opportunities and challenges of translation
• Expert opinions, perspectives and field reports
• Industrial perspectives
Author guidelines
• Authorship is encouraged from various disciplines including chemistry, colloid science, medicine and pharmacy.
• Authorship is encouraged from geographical areas (e.g. South East Asia) where antibiotic resistance is an emerging issue.
• Articles should be written in a succinct manner.
• All submitted articles will first be assessed by the editorial board to determine suitability for further in-depth review.
• Articles which present a balanced scholarly critic of the work will be encouraged. Contributions that only highlight glossy attributes will be returned without external review.
• Authors must stick to the set guidelines for ethical practices by the Frontiers journals.
• The raw data must be uploaded as supporting information wherever suitable.
• Remaining author guidelines given in the journal website prevail.
Keywords: Antibiotic resistance, MDR (multidrug resistance), nanoparticles, nanomedicine, nanoantibiotics
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.
