Materials Science calls for papers / publications

Call for Papers for a Special Issue of Mechanical Sciences on the Topic of Mechanics of Cells, Tissues, and Biomaterials

The paramount role of mechanics in life has recently been the center of attention of many researchers. This special issue will be focusing on the role of mechanics in the life of cells and tissues and their interactions with biomaterials. Original research and review papers are solicited for review and publication in the journal Mechanical Sciences . Mechanical Sciences is an academic open-access journal sponsored by the Library of Delft University of Technology and The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). Thanks to the generous financial support of The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, all manuscripts will be processed and published free of any charge. The work submitted for publication should not have been published before except in the form of an abstract. The review process will start immediately after submission of the papers. Accepted papers will be published in the first regular issue of the journal after acceptance. The published papers will be finally collected in a special issue of the journal.

Guest Editors
Amir A. Zadpoor, Delft University of Technology (Delft, NL)
Harrie Weinans, Erasmus Medical Center (Rotterdam, NL)

Due to the highly hierarchical structure of tissues, the consequences of the mechanical forces and motions are transferred back and forth along several time and spatial scales. The mechanical behavior of tissues is therefore studied not only at the tissue scale but also in relation with cells and proteins in a multi-scale modeling scheme.

The environment in which cells and tissues live also plays an important role. The mechanical interactions between cells and tissues and their surrounding living entities (other cells and tissues) and/or synthetic biomaterials need to be studied as well. The synthetic biomaterials may have been used for replacement of some of the tissues (implants) or regeneration of tissues in the laboratory (scaffolds, etc.).

The topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

Tissue Mechanics

Bone and cartilage mechanics
Soft tissue mechanics
Bone tissue adaptation and fracture healing
Tissue growth, adaptation, and differentiation including the mechanics of morphogenesis
Patient-specific finite element modeling of tissues
Characterization of soft and hard tissues including computational models developed for nanoindentation, scanning acoustic microscopy, etc.
Fracture of bone and other biological materials
Cell Mechanics

Cytoskeletal mechanics
Cell-biomaterial interactions
Multi-scale models
Mechanics of Biomaterials

The mechanics of tissue-implant complexes
Optimal design of biomaterials and implants
Mechanical characterization of biomaterials (static, fatigue, permeability, etc)
Bio-adhesives, bio-interfaces, and their mechanical performance
Mechanics of active biomaterials

Submission procedure
The submissions should follow the general guidelines detailed in the submission webpage of the journal . Authors can submit their contributions by using the online registration form on the website of the journal:
http://www.mechanical-sciences.net/submission/manuscript_submission.html

When submitting the paper, it is important that the authors choose the correct special.

Key dates
Submission deadline: 15 November 2012
Reviews start: right after submission of the paper
Reviews due: as soon as possible before 1 January 2013
Acceptance: as soon as the review process is concluded
Publication: First regular issue after acceptance (late 2012, early 2013)

Call for Papers for a Focus Issue of the Journal of Materials Research: Silicon-Based Nanoparticles for Biosensing and Biomedical Applications

March 2013

Submission Deadline: May 30. 2012

The past few years have witnessed a major growth in the use of semiconductor nanoparticles in the fields of biosensing and biomedicine for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. The tremendous progress in the field of nanotechnology has generated many techniques for the fabrication of semiconductor nanostructures with controlled composition, tailored properties, and multiple functionalities, and a diverse set of surface chemical reactions have been developed to allow their integration into biological systems. With physical dimensions comparable to many common biomolecules, semiconductor nanostructures are also employed in many hybrid nanoparticle-biomolecule systems. Silicon and silicon-based nanoparticles possess a number of unique properties important for biosensing and biomedicine applications, including low toxicity, biocompatibility, stable photoluminescence, dissolution in vivo, and natural abundance.

The March 2013 focus issue of Journal of Materials Research will bring together current activities in the fields of biosensing and biomedicine using silicon-based nanoparticles and nanostructures, including porous and non-porous silicon nanoparticles, mesoporous silicon oxide, and other nanostructured silicon compounds.

Contributed papers are solicited in the following areas:

Biosensing and chemical sensing
Drug delivery systems
In vivo imaging and medical diagnostics
Tissue engineering
Environmental monitoring
High throughput screening
Food safety
Security

GUEST EDITORS:

Raúl J. Martín-Palma, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain, and The Pennsylvania State University, USA
Michael J. Sailor, University of California, San Diego, USA

MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION

To be considered for this issue, new and previously unpublished results significant to the development of this field should be presented. The manuscripts must be submitted via the JMR electronic submission system by May 30, 2012. Manuscripts submitted after this deadline will not be considered for the issue due to time constraints on the review process. Submission instructions may be found at www.mrs.org/jmr-instructions. Please select “Focus Issue: Silicon-based Nanoparticles for Biosensing and Biomedical Applications” as the manuscript type. All manuscripts will be reviewed in a normal but expedited fashion. Papers submitted by the deadline and subsequently accepted will be published in the Focus Issue. Other manuscripts that are acceptable but cannot be included in the issue will be scheduled for publication in a subsequent issue of JMR.

Please contact jmr@mrs.org with questions.