Call For Papers: The Prodigious Diversity of Lipid Nanoparticles for Gene Delivery

Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) have emerged as a transformative platform for drug delivery, enabling breakthroughs in nucleic acid therapeutics, vaccines, and precision medicine. Recent advances in formulation, characterization, and mechanistic understanding are driving rapid progress in this field, yet critical challenges remain in optimizing stability, targeting, and safety.

To capture these exciting developments, ACS Bio & Med Chem Au is launching a Special Issue dedicated to LNPs. This collection will highlight cutting-edge research and perspectives that advance the design, application, and clinical translation of LNP-based systems, reflecting their growing impact on modern therapeutics.

Topics include, but are not limited to:

• Novel lipid chemistries and formulations: Design of new ionizable lipids, helper lipids, and formulation strategies for improved delivery, stability, and biocompatibility.
• Mechanistic insights: Molecular, cellular, and in vivo studies of LNP interactions with biological barriers, endosomal escape mechanisms, trafficking, and biodistribution.
• Targeting strategies: Innovations for extrahepatic delivery, tissue- and cell-specific targeting, and precision medicine approaches.
• Data-driven design: High-throughput screening, computational modeling, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to accelerate LNP discovery and optimization.
• Immunogenicity and safety: Preclinical and clinical evaluation of immune responses, toxicity, and long-term outcomes.
• Therapeutic applications: Demonstration of LNP efficacy in vaccination, gene editing, gene replacement, protein replacement, and other emerging therapies.

Submit your manuscript by July 31, 2026.

Organizing Editors

Miffy Hok Yan Cheng, Guest Editor, ACS Bio & Med Chem Au
University of British Columbia, Canada

Afsaneh Lavasanifar, Associate Editor, ACS Bio & Med Chem Au
University of Alberta, Canada

Ine Lentacker, Guest Editor, ACS Bio & Med Chem Au
Ghent University, Belgium

Submission Information

We welcome submissions for this Special Issue through July 31, 2026. For more information on submission requirements, please visit the journal’s Author Guidelines page.

Accepted manuscripts for consideration in this Special Issue will include research articles, letters, reviews, and tutorials. Papers accepted for publication for this Special Issue will be available ASAP (as soon as publishable) online. After all submissions have been published, they will then be compiled online on a dedicated landing page to form the Special Issue. Manuscripts submitted for consideration will undergo the full rigorous peer review process expected from ACS journals.

ACS Bio & Med Chem Au is a fully open-access journal, which means your work will be immediately and freely available for anyone to read in perpetuity. We recognize that different authors have different levels of access to funding for Article Publication Charges (APCs).

We offer a range of options to support authors with open-access publishing, including through the ACS special country pricing policy and ACS institutional open access agreements.

How to Submit

• Log in to the ACS Publishing Center.
• Select the "Journals" tab.
• Choose ACS Bio & Med Chem Au.
• Click "Submit."
• Select your manuscript type, and, under "Special Issue Selection," choose “The Prodigious Diversity of Lipid Nanoparticles for Gene Delivery."

If you have any general questions regarding submission to this Special Issue, please contact au-eic@journals.acs.org.