The interest of scientists towards polysaccharides of natural origin has grown in the last ten years. We are witnessing a renaissance of natural polysaccharides, as they match the requirement of environment friendly extraction and processing methodologies, abundance, versatility, potential biocompatibility and biodegradability, renewable sources, low processing costs, tailoring of structure by genetic manipulation, and so on. Moreover, the good chemical reactivity and possibility to use a rather simple chemistry allows modifying their final properties.

Natural polysaccharides are mainly used in pharmaceuticals, as drug carriers or antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, or coagulation modifying agents, in tissue engineering and wound dressings, and, due to their mild gelling conditions, for immobilization of cells and enzymes. In opportune conditions, the gelation process can be slowed down, and this is of interest for in situ injectable gels. Hyaluronic acid, the main component of connective tissue, is at present the diamond tip among heteropolysaccharides, and it is largely used topically in cosmetics and in medicine as biomaterial for cartilage repair and tissue bulking agent.

We invite investigators to contribute original research articles as well as review articles that will stimulate the interest of the reader towards the possibility to fortify and extend the field of biomedical applications of polysaccharides. We are particularly interested in articles describing the characterization and potential biomedical applications of new exopolysaccharides, as well as novel chemical and enzymatic modification strategies of common polysaccharides, their blending with other biopolymers, and addition of biodegradable additives, with description of their potentiality in biomedical field.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Preparation of copolymers in different architectures (such as amphiphilic polymers)
• Biosynthesis and modification (chemical or enzymatic) of polysaccharides
• Carriers for sustained drug release and gene therapy (such as micelles and micro- and nanoparticles)
• Tissue engineering scaffolds, fabrication methods (i.e. electrospinning), and materials in different forms (hydrogels, foams, nanofibers, patches, etc.)
• New or improved application of existing polysaccharides
• Bioactive properties and host response
• Hybrid biomaterials