Editorial: Microencapsulation for Biomedical Applications

The systemic administration of drugs, such as chemotherapeutics, probiotics and anti-inflammatories, is known to be frequently associated to biomolecules short half-life, poor stability and side effects potentially harmful to functional tissues and organs. Advanced drug therapies require patient customization and targeting of drug formulation and dosage to warrant treatment efficacy and reduce possible undesired secondary effects. Nano- and microencapsulation strategies are generally defined as a set of technologies that allow to entrap active ingredients, namely small solid particles, liquid droplets or a gas, using a surrounding material (Silva and Meireles, 2014). These strategies may allow overcoming previous limitations as the encapsulating material protects the drugs, while their delivery can be tailored depending on the specific application by the careful modulation of carrier composition, size and architectural features. A variety of methods, including microfluidic emulsion, coacervation, antisolvent precipitation and soft lithography, have been used to produce drug delivery systems for precision medicine (Wang et al., 2006; Canelas et al., 2009; Liu et al., 2017). Overall, these methods offer control over basic parameters such as material-to-drug composition, carrier size, porosity and shape (Figure 1). In this vast and complex panorama, the aim of this Research Topic is to highlight and illustrate important knowledge in the field of micro- and nanoencapsulation and drug delivery systems as shared by experts in these research fields. Most notably, the nine articles collected in this issue, composed of five research articles and four reviews by different countries’ teams, are of interest to researchers looking for current drug delivery advances in biomedicine and biotechnology, as described following.