Topic: Next-Generation Therapeutic Platforms: Engineering Extracellular Vesicles with Advanced Biomaterials

The Special Issue “Next-Generation Therapeutic Platforms: Engineering Extracellular Vesicles with Advanced Biomaterials” marks an exciting shift in the life sciences. Extracellular vesicles (EVs)—tiny particles once seen mainly as messengers between cells—are now being reimagined as customizable bio-nanomaterials with huge potential for next-generation therapies. After years of research into how these vesicles move and exchange molecules, scientists now understand that EVs are highly organized carriers, packed with proteins, fats, and genetic material that can influence all sorts of processes in health and disease.

Even though EVs offer many advantages, turning them into real-world treatments isn’t simple. There are hurdles like making enough of them, keeping them consistent, controlling what they carry, making sure they reach the right places in the body, and ensuring they last long enough to make a difference. This is where advanced biomaterials come in—they’re a true game-changer. By merging EV science with materials engineering, researchers are building hybrid systems using things like hydrogels, nanocarriers, and smart scaffolds. These materials don’t just support EVs—they actively help control how stable EVs are, where they go, and how and when they release their cargo. This teamwork is opening the door to a new generation of therapies that go far beyond what EVs or traditional delivery methods could achieve on their own.

This Special Issue brings together top experts to share a broad, interdisciplinary view of the field. It covers everything from how EVs are formed and engineered, to cutting-edge ways to study and deliver them using biomaterials. There’s a special focus on how these advances could help in areas like tissue repair, cancer treatment, and immune therapies, as well as on the real-world challenges of manufacturing and regulation. Overall, this collection aims to lay the groundwork for EV–biomaterial hybrid systems and inspire their development into practical, clinically relevant therapies.