This article was submitted to Biophysics, a section of the journal Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences
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When scientists work at the interface and investigate how to tailor it, they can unlock a plethora of possibilities for the future of different sectors. This is well exemplified by the five articles published as a part of this research topic; these works can contribute to development of natural delivery systems for cosmeceutical applications, bio-inspired functional surfaces for biomedical, biosensing, and food packaging, as well as techniques for the measurement of protein adsorption. Following from the previous research topic (Editorial:
We can understand and study only what we can measure and the review article on nanomechanical mass spectrometry presents the crucial role of nanomechanical techniques in the understanding of protein deposition at the surface. This research topic also features a review article on hydrophobins, a protein with a tight affinity for surfaces that can self-assemble at hydrophobic/hydrophilic interfaces into amphipathic layers, and shines light on the potential applications of hydrophobins from fungi.
As a complementary approach to lab studies,
The important issue of sustainability has also received attention in the submitted works; alginate and chitosan polymers has been investigated by two papers – one that describes the delivery of bee products for cosmeceuticals and medical applications, and a second that explores nanocomposite film based-sensors based on catalase.
What will the future bring? Hopefully a better understanding of the single molecule events at the surface and ways to better tune and exploit them, while the current innovations reach the market and deliver impact.
All authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and intellectual contribution to the work and approved it for publication.
The guest editors wish to thank the authors for their valuable contributions, as well as the many reviewers for the tremendous efforts to guarantee a high-quality review process.
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.