Special Issue "Next-Generation Vaccines: Nanoparticle-Mediated DNA and RNA Delivery"

Colleagues,

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the critical role of nucleic acid (mRNA, circRNA and DNA) vaccines in preventing pathogen infection. The SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech have been widely adopted to vaccinate people against the disease, and they show a higher effectiveness over inactivated virus vaccines, especially for the SARS-CoV-2 variant. Nonetheless, there are still many challenges in the field of nucleic acid vaccines, such as low stability, poor cell penetration and safety. The rapid growth of the RNA and DNA vaccine markets has triggered an urgent need for efficient design strategies of nucleic acid structure and delivery systems. Nanoparticle-based therapeutics have achieved large success in biomedical applications. Nanoparticle-mediated DNA and RNA delivery may provide an effect of “two birds with one stone” to resolve the challenges in the field of nucleic acid vaccines.

To achieve a more extensive understanding of current trends in DNA and RNA vaccine development, this Special issue is focused on the recent scientific and technical progresses made in nanoparticle-mediated DNA and RNA delivery. We invite you to contribute an original report, original observation or review, in order to highlight (i) nucleic acid design, (ii) nanoparticle delivery systems, or (iii) the relationship between vaccine formulation and responses.

Dr. Junjun Wu
Guest Editor

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. Vaccines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2700 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.

• mRNA vaccine
• DNA vaccine
• nanoparticle
• delivery
• adjuvant