A Festschrift Celebrating Dr. Dimiter Stanchev Dimitrov: Antibodies, Innovation, and Impact on Infectious Disease and Cancer Research

Dear Colleagues,

We are thrilled to announce a Special Issue dedicated to celebrating Dr. Dimiter Stanchev Dimitrov, the founding Editor-in-Chief of Antibodies. Dr. Dimitrov received his education at the University of Sofia, Bulgaria, where he earned both his BSc and PhD in 1976. He furthered his academic achievements by obtaining an ScD from the Bulgarian Academy of Science in 1984. His three decades at the NIH have been marked by pioneering work in antibody therapeutics, earning him recognition as a Senior Biomedical Researcher and an NCI Outstanding Mentor. Dr. Dimitrov also served as a Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Director of the Center for Antibody Therapeutics at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Dimitrov was named one of the “Science Superheroes” during the COVID-19 pandemic for his work on monoclonal antibodies. His groundbreaking research has led to innovative therapies targeting a diverse range of illnesses, from cancer and HIV-1 to emerging and biodefense-related viruses.

He has made vital contributions to the development and use of human monoclonal antibodies and has published over 500 research articles with 40,000 citations. He is renowned for his work on display/screening/library methodologies and antibody engineering, including various formats such as full-size antibodies, antibody fragments, engineered protein domains, CARs, bispecific and multispecific antibodies, ADCs, BiTEs, and BiKEs. His dedication to clinical research collaboration has paved the way for groundbreaking advancements in antibody-based medicine.

For this Special Issue, we welcome original and review papers that reflect the breadth and depth of Dr. Dimitrov’s work. We eagerly await your contributions to this special edition of Antibodies, which promises to celebrate Dr. Dimitrov’s remarkable achievements and inspire future generations of scientists to continue his legacy of pioneering antibody therapeutics and immunotherapies.

Dr. Ponraj Prabakaran
Prof. Dr. Tianlei Ying
Dr. Wei Li
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Antibodies is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• monoclonal antibodies
• innovative therapies
• full-size antibodies
• antibody fragments