International Journal of Nanomedicine

Translational Nanomedicine for Tissue Regeneration: Evolving from drug delivery to cell therapy

As translational nanomedicine matures, the field is advancing beyond passive drug couriers toward intelligent, cell‑interactive platforms. Exosome‑inspired vesicles, nanoparticle delivery of mRNA/siRNA/CRISPR cargos, and bioresponsive materials now orchestrate cell fate, recalibrate inflammatory milieus, and endow engineered cells with context‑aware functions to accelerate precise tissue regeneration.

This Article Collection spotlights nanomedicine‑enabled cell‑therapy strategies that bridge laboratory innovation and clinical need, spanning nanoengineered stem and immune cells, living materials, and microenvironment‑tuning systems that enhance survival, homing, and functionality in situ. We particularly welcome studies that address persistent bottlenecks: poor retention and engraftment, dysregulated inflammation and fibrosis, inadequate vascularization and innervation, scalable manufacturing, rigorous in vivo tracking, and long‑term safety. By integrating materials science, synthetic biology, and immunoengineering, we aim to chart actionable pathways for next‑generation regenerative therapeutics and to catalyze their translation across musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, neural, and cutaneous tissues.

This Collection is timely and important because it reframes nanomedicine as the operational engine of regeneration, not merely a delivery add‑on. By convening advances in exosome engineering, nucleic‑acid therapeutics, and immune‑informed biomaterials, it targets the barriers that repeatedly stall translation: fragile cell survival and engraftment, inflammatory dysregulation, inadequate vascularization and innervation, inconsistent manufacturing, and unclear long‑term safety. We seek studies that turn nanoscale control into practical clinical value-platforms that program cell fate in situ, enable dose‑sparing and site‑specific action, and provide noninvasive tracking and release logic for real‑time decision‑making. Equally, we invite work on scalable, standardized production and rigorous analytics that improve reproducibility across labs and indications. By bringing stem‑cell, immune‑cell, materials, and gene‑editing communities into one forum, the Collection will surface shared design rules, benchmarking methods, and regulatory‑ready evidence.

We welcome high-quality submissions across related fields, including original research articles, reviews, perspectives and commentaries. Topics of interest encompass nanotherapeutics and exosome engineering; nucleic-acid and gene-editing delivery; cellular reprogramming and immunomodulation; microenvironment remodeling; scalable and standardized manufacturing; as well as in vivo imaging and long-term safety evaluation.

Subtopics may include but are not limited to:

1. Engineering exosomes/extracellular vesicles for tissue regeneration;
2. Cell‑mimetic and hybrid nanocarriers for tissue regeneration;
3. Hybrid nanomedicine–biomaterials platforms for tissue regeneration;
4. mRNA/siRNA/CRISPR nanoparticle systems for in situ cell reprogramming;
5. Nano‑enabled stem and immune cell therapies (e.g., CAR‑macrophages, engineered MSCs);
6. Immune‑informed nanomaterials to resolve inflammation and prevent fibrosis;
7. Safety, biodegradation, and immunogenicity assessment for nanomedicine in tissue regeneration application;
8. Scalable, GMP‑aligned manufacturing and analytics for nanomedicine in tissue regeneration application.

Please submit your manuscript through the Dovepress website.

Please contact Haoyang Yi (Commissioning Editor) at haoyang.yi@taylorandfrancis.com with any queries regarding this Article Collection.

Guest Advisors

Dr. Yawei Du

Dr. Yawei Du is an Associate Professor at Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, and an Editorial Board Member of the International Journal of Nanomedicine. His research primarily focuses on lipid-based drug delivery systems for mRNA therapeutics. He has published 40+ papers as (co-) first or corresponding author in top journals, such as Advanced Materials (×6), Bioactive Materials (×7), Advanced Functional Materials (×3). His work has been cited over 2,400 times (H-index 30). He has led 11 research projects, including 2 funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).

Dr. Ruoyu Cheng

Dr. Ruoyu Cheng is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki, working on engineering T cells for cancer immunotherapy. She has published over 50 peer-reviewed papers (>4100 citations, h-index 34, from Google Scholar). She also serves as the young editorial board member of Exploration and the peer reviewer of several scientific journals, such as Bioactive Materials, Drug Delivery and Translational Research, Nano Select, Materials Today Bio, etc.

Dr. Wei He

Dr. He is currently an Associate Professor at Zhejiang Ocean University School of Medicine. His research focuses on the design and synthesis of orally administered marine-derived biomaterials and their applications in cancer, gastrointestinal diseases, and arthritis. He has published over 26 SCI/ESCI papers, including 11 as (co-)first or corresponding author in journals such as Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., ACS Nano, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, and Int. J. Pharmaceutics. He has led several research projects, including the Young Scientists Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), the Excellent Postdoctoral Fund of the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Science and Technology, and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.