Outstanding Reviewers for RSC Advances in 2021

We would like to take this opportunity to highlight the Outstanding Reviewers for RSC Advances in 2021, as selected by the editorial team for their significant contribution to the journal.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of RSC Advances’s reviewers, and in particular highlight the Outstanding Reviewers for the journal in 2021, as selected by the editorial team for their significant contribution to RSC Advances. We announce our Outstanding Reviewers annually and each receives a certificate to give recognition for their contribution. The reviewers have been chosen based on the number, timeliness and quality of the reports completed over the last 12 months. Dr Gopi AdhikariUniversity of Nebraska-LincolnORCID: 0000-0002-9986-8218 Dr Marco AnniUniversità del SalentoORCID: 0000-0002-1651-0166 Dr Jubaraj BaruahIndian Institute of Technology GuwahatiORCID: 0000-0003-3371-7529 Dr Mauro ChinappiUniversità degli Studi di Roma Tor VergataORCID: 0000-0002-4509-1247 Professor Søren ChristensenKøbenhavns UniversitetORCID: 0000-0002-5773-6874 Professor Beelee ChuaKorea UniversityORCID: 0000-0002-9153-0167 Dr Francesco FerlinUniversità degli Studi di PerugiaORCID: 0000-0003-3800-9708 Dr Lihua GanTongji University Dr Charles GauthierInstitut National de la Recherche ScientifiqueORCID: 0000-0002-2475-2050 Dr Xuyun GuoThe Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityORCID: 0000-0003-0365-7545 Professor Wei-Min HeUniversity of South ChinaORCID: 0000-0002-9481-6697 Dr Bolong HuangThe Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityORCID: 0000-0002-2526-2002 Professor Dong-Hau KuoNational Taiwan University of Science and TechnologyORCID: 0000-0001-9300-8551 Dr Dattatray LateNational Chemical Laboratory CSIRORCID: 0000-0003-3007-7220 Professor Giuseppe LazzaraUniversità degli Studi di PalermoORCID: 0000-0003-1953-5817 Dr Xin LiuUniversity of FloridaORCID: 0000-0001-9504-795X Dr Nadia Mahmoud Tawfiq JebrilUniversity of PlymouthORCID: 0000-0002-5368-2127 Dr Ramakanta NaikInstitute of Chemical Technology Mumbai - IndianOil Odisha Campus BhubaneswarORCID: 0000-0002-4460-1540 Dr Yangguang OuUniversity of VermontORCID: 0000-0002-6902-3978 Dr Paresh SamantarayIndian Institute of ScienceORCID: 0000-0003-2533-929X Dr Dane ScottEast Tennessee State University College of Arts and SciencesORCID: 0000-0003-0018-7189 Dr Rodolfo TeixeiraUniversity of NottinghamORCID: 0000-0001-8042-8442 Dr Carlos Torres-TorresInstituto Politécnico NacionalORCID: 0000-0001-9255-2416 Dr Renjie WangVirginia Commonwealth UniversityORCID: 0000-0002-2969-0987 Dr Zhixin WangUniversity of FloridaORCID: 0000-0001-7255-6049 Dr Biquan XiongHunan Institute of Science and TechnologyORCID: 0000-0002-6490-6384 Dr Li-Ming YangHuazhong University of Science and TechnologyORCID: 0000-0002-7836-212X Dr Zhi YueThe University of ChicagoORCID: 0000-0002-4231-7474 Dr Wen ZhangTianjin UniversityORCID: 0000-0001-6118-3136 Professor Guowei ZhouQilu University of TechnologyORCID: 0000-0002-7023-6225 We would also like to thank the RSC Advances Editorial Board and Advisory Board and the research community for their continued support of the journal, as authors, reviewers and readers. Russell Cox, Editor-in-ChiefLaura Fisher, Executive Editor     

Introduction to the RSC Advances themed collection on Nanomaterials in drug delivery

Professor Hélder A. Santos and Dr Irina N. Savina introduce the RSC Advances themed collection on Nanomaterials in drug delivery.

Research on nanomaterials for drug delivery applications has exponentially increased in the last few years, particularly since the impactful lipid nanocarriers used by Pfizer and Moderna were developed for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccines to treat COVID-19.¹There is ongoing research into the development of effective drug delivery systems that will help us deal with complex and life-threatening diseases, such as cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.² Nanomaterials like liposomes, polymeric nanoparticles, metal nanoparticles, micelles, emulsions and dendrimers are becoming increasingly important in the pharmaceutical industry for improving drug formulations. The use of nanomaterials enhances the properties of conventional drugs through improved targeted drug delivery, solubility, bioavailability and drug retention time, and at the same time contributes to a reduction in side effects and risks of drug toxicity.Nanoparticles have been produced using a variety of technologies, and particles will be formed by self-assembly, emulsification or precipitation. The choice of method is based on the ability to produce particles at the nanoscale with controlled size and good reproducibility at large scales. As an alternative to batch synthesis, microfluidic technology has been proposed, which allows better control of nanoparticle production and production on a large scale. Research continues to improve the methods available and develop more modern technologies. Grandi and co-workers demonstrated the potential of centrifugal flow-through reactors (RIACs) as a cost-effective, facile and pump-free technology for producing pharmaceutically relevant nanoparticulate systems. RIACs can be manufactured using a desktop 3D printer without post-manufacturing treatment before usage, which makes RIACs an appealing technology to research groups, especially in low-resource settings and without prior expertise in microfluidics (https://doi.org/10.1039/D2RA02745C).Various polymers have been used for the design of nanoparticles. The main focus is on biocompatible, biodegradable, non-toxic and non-immunogenic polymers. Tortorella and co-workers review the literature work on the very recent applications of zein as an attractive and promising biopolymer for biomedical applications, and its advantageous properties in terms of shape and size, from the 1D to the final 3D perspective, including discussion of zein nanoparticles and nanocomplexes, fibers, films, membranes, microbeads, gels, and scaffolds (https://doi.org/10.1039/D1RA07424E).Nanotechnology is key to the development of RNA therapy, which uses RNA-based delivery molecules to treat or prevent diseases that cannot be treated with conventional drugs. Recent advances in biotechnology and molecular biology make it possible to produce any peptide or protein in human cells by introducing RNA as a therapeutic agent or vaccine. The ability to produce programmed exogenous RNA and deliver it using non-viral delivery systems is more cost effective, is faster and provides flexibility in the design, something that cannot be offered by other conventional approaches. Because of that, RNA therapy can provide a quick response to the outbreak of infectious disease, such as the recent outbreak of COVID-19. RNA therapy offers hope for the development of a cure for intractable or genetic diseases. A number of RNA treatments have been successfully developed, and several clinical trials are currently underway. The review paper by Rajendran and co-workers discusses and provides an update on how mRNA therapeutics have evolved over time and the various strategies that are being explored to overcome the bottlenecks faced in utilizing mRNA as an efficient therapeutic aid, including the integration of bone tissue engineering biomaterials with mRNA for better localized delivery. The review also discusses the methods used for co-delivery of mRNA and for producing mRNA protecting proteins, and the future possibilities of utilizing mRNA therapeutics for treating various bone related genetic disorders (https://doi.org/10.1039/D2RA00713D). Research is ongoing to find more effective nanoformulations and better targeted delivery. Modification of nanoparticles with bioactive cell-recognizing molecules such as RGD improves delivery efficiency and tissue specificity in some applications (https://doi.org/10.1039/D2RA02771B). Further advances in the development of RNA drug-delivery systems will provide a solution for developing therapies for currently uncured diseases.In the past few decades, there has been interest in using exosomes, biological nanoparticles, as novel drug delivery systems. Exosomes are cellular drug delivery systems that are used by cells to communicate and also to transport some material. As part of a cell, exosomes have low toxicity, high bioactivity, and biocompatibility. Due to their structure, exosomes do not need to be modified with specific antibodies or other biologically active molecules for targeted delivery to specific cells. Growing knowledge of the structure and biological activity of exosomes is driving researchers to develop new structures of drug delivery systems and improve existing liposome-based delivery platforms. Hybrid variants have been created in an attempt to combine the advantages of the original exosomes with the properties of synthetic systems for better and more specific drug delivery. The review paper by Lee and co-workers provided an overview of the methods for the preparation of exosome-based drug delivery systems (DDSs) through encapsulation and loading of drugs into exosomes as well as the synthesis of hybrid exosomes through diverse approaches. They also discuss the effects of treatment using exosome-based DDSs in different diseases (https://doi.org/10.1039/D2RA02351B).This themed collection aims to explore the latest developments in the design, preparation, and application of nanomaterials for drug delivery, understand bio–nano interactions and biosystem parameters, assess the safety of nanomedicine, and assess the potential limitations of nanomedicine fabrication, including technical and legal aspects. There are currently 7 amazing contributions, including 3 review papers and 4 full papers, which broadly cover the various important topics within the field of nanomaterials in drug delivery. We would like to thank all the authors for their high-quality contributions, and we hope that researchers working in the areas of nanomaterials and drug delivery systems will enjoy reading these articles and find them useful for their future work.     

Introduction to the genetics series

This article provides a brief introduction to a seven-week series of articles that are underpinned by a competence-based genetics education framework. The series of articles aims to raise awareness of genetics and help readers develop confidence in dealing appropriately with genetic issues that arise in their area of practice.     

Introduction to the research methods in CAM series

There is increasing awareness of a need for rigorous research into complementary and alternative medicine, but as yet, limited guidance has been given to researchers, practitioners and students as to the range and scope of the various methodologies available and how existing methods can be modified for CAM research. This research methods series provides an outline of the main methods for researching CAM-related issues, including clinical trials, cross-sectional studies and qualitative methodologies. Drawing on the experiences of a range of experts in CAM research, each article in this series addresses the scope and strengths of a particular methodological approach. This series aims to convey the basis and objectives of particular methodologies within the context of CAM research, and thus, each paper will draw on actual examples of CAM research. It is intended to be of value both to inexperienced researchers and to those who are more experienced but are looking to broaden their range of knowledge. In this introduction, we outline some of the fundamental concepts for researching CAM, providing an overall sense of where each methodological approach outlined in this series fits in the 'order of things'. We outline different design strategies, the philosophical differences underpinning particular approaches to collecting data, and the issue of bias in research design and analysis.     

Introduction to the life sciences series and homeostasis

The aim of this series is to examine the life sciences in the context of clinical nursing practice and explore the basic structure and function of the human body. The series will examine different aspects of anatomy and physiology, assisting the reader to make essential links between theory and practice. This article introduces the series, describes some basic anatomical terms and outlines the concept of homeostasis and feedback systems.     

RSC Advances: celebrating 10 years of publication

Celebrating the 10th anniversary of RSC Advances.

In July 2011 the Royal Society of Chemistry published the first issue of RSC Advances,¹ so this month marks our 10^th anniversary! Since 2011 we’ve published over 62 000 articles across the breadth of the chemical sciences. We’ve got a lot of activities planned to celebrate our 10^th year, but we’d like to start by sharing some of the history of our journal, and how we got to where we are today.     

Introduction to the safe patient handling and movement series

Musculoskeletal injuries can occur when the physical work demanded by a job exceeds a worker's ability to respond safely. In perioperative nursing, and nursing in general, patient handling and movement demands commonly lead to injury and are considered high-risk activities. In 2005, the AORN Workplace Safety Task Force was charged with identifying high-risk tasks performed in the perioperative area and developing evidence-based solutions to help establish an ergonomically safe workplace. The work of the task force was incorporated into the “AORN guidance statement: Safe patient handling and movement in the perioperative setting,” which includes seven ergonomic tools to help determine best practices for safe movement and handling of patients, supplies, and equipment in the OR. Members of the AORN Perioperative Environment of Care Task Force have collaborated to author seven articles that help explain the rationale behind and use of these ergonomic tools. The articles will appear in the Journal beginning in this issue.