Journal of Materials Chemistry Blog

Journal of Materials Chemistry B is delighted to announce an open call for submissions to a cross-journal themed collection on ‘Microneedles’ with companion journal Biomaterials Science.

Guest edited by Dr Ester Caffarel-Salvador (Scientific Consultant, USA) Professor Ryan Donnelly (Queen’s University Belfast, UK), Professor Harvinder Gill (Texas Tech, USA) and Professor Hyungil Jung (Yonsei University, Korea).

Submissions open until 1 March 2023

Microneedles, since their inception as a unique transdermal drug and vaccine delivery system, have become a noteworthy system used in multiple routes, including gastrointestinal, oral (mouth cavity) and ocular, to name a few. The range of illnesses being targeted by microneedles has also increased significantly and includes infectious diseases, pain, diabetes, and allergies for example. Sensing is another upcoming application of microneedles. Innovation in microneedle fabrication continues to not only push the drug-carrying and delivering capacity of microneedles, but also making mass manufacturing feasible and economical. There is also increased activity in the commercial sector with different companies attempting to bring the first microneedle-based medical device to market.

This cross-journal themed collection on ‘Microneedles’ in Journal of Materials Chemistry B and Biomaterials Science aims to bring together recent advancements in the field of microneedles that readers will find informative and useful. The topics could include microneedle fabrication and development approaches, applications of microneedles that add a new dimension to existing core knowledge in the microneedles field, sensing applications and clinical studies that evaluate efficacy or other aspects of microneedle use in humans.

Submissions to the journal should fit within the scope of Journal of Materials Chemistry B or Biomaterials Science – Please see the journal website for more information on the journal’s scope, standards, article types and author guidelines. We encourage you to submit your work to the journal that you feel best reflects the scope of your work.

The call for papers is open for the following article types:

• Communications
• Full papers
• Reviews
• Perspectives

If you would like to submit to this themed collection, you can submit your article directly to the online submission platform for Journal of Materials Chemistry B or Biomaterials Science. Please mention that this submission is a contribution to the Microneedles collection in the “Themed issues” section of the submission form and add a “Note to the Editor” that this is from the Open Call. The Editorial Office reserves the right to check suitability of submissions in relation to the scope of both the journal and the collection, and inclusion of accepted articles in the final themed issue is not guaranteed.

Please note that all submissions will be subject to initial assessment by the journal editors and as such we cannot guarantee peer review or final acceptance of your manuscript. If you have any questions about the collection, email us at materialsb-rsc@rsc.org.  We look forward to receiving and featuring your submissions in this exciting collection!

Journal of Materials Chemistry B are delighted to announce an open call for submissions to our themed collection on ‘Materials, Physical and Biological Chemistry of Protein Cages’.

Guest Edited by:

Prof. Jeroen Cornelissen (University of Twente, the Netherlands)

Prof. Feng Li (Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China)

Dr Frank Sainsbury (Griffith University, Australia)

Protein cages are highly ordered macromolecules that can be genetically encoded and chemically modified. They are characterized by well-defined structures, controllable self-assembly, capacity for cargo loading, and facile chemical or genetic engineering. Protein cages hold great potential as versatile platforms in diverse fields. Applications include biomedicine and drug delivery; enzymology and biocatalysis; bioinspired materials and templates for inorganic chemistry. These applications are underpinned by fundamental science drawing on the fields of biological chemistry, biophysics, physical chemistry, and computational chemistry.

In this context, it is pertinent to compile this themed collection on the materials, physical and biological chemistry of protein cages. To this end, this themed collection of Journal of Materials Chemistry B aims at providing a platform for recent developments in this rapidly evolving field of protein cages including, de novo design, biophysics of self-assembly, permeability, biocatalytic nanoreactors, artificial organelles, delivery of bioactive molecules, bioimaging and biosensing, multifunctional nanodevices and other applications. We hope that readers find this themed collection informative and that it will act as an up-to-date insight into the fascinating potential of protein cages in chemistry.

Submissions to the journal should fit within the scope of Journal of Materials Chemistry B– Please see the journal website for more information on the journal’s scope, standards, article types and author guidelines.

Submission Deadline: 1 February 2023

We strongly encourage you to submit an original research article. If you are interested in submitting a review-type article, please contact the Editorial Office in the first instance with a proposed title and abstract as initial approval is required before submission to limit the number of review-type articles and avoid potential topic overlap.

All submissions will undergo a rigorous initial Editorial assessment as to suitability for the journal before potential peer review. Please note that peer review and acceptance of your submission will not be guaranteed. All accepted articles will be added to the online web collection as soon as they are published and will be featured in the next available issue of Journal of Materials Chemistry B.

Manuscripts can be submitted here https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jmchemb

Please add a “note to the editor” in the submission form when you submit your manuscript to say that this is a submission for the themed collection. The Editorial Office and Guest Editors reserve the right to check suitability of submissions in relation to the scope of the collection and inclusion of accepted articles in the collection is not guaranteed.

We look forward to receiving your submissions for this collection!