Nanotechnology in Diagnosis, Treatment and Prophylaxis of Infectious Diseases

Mahendra Rai is an internationally recognized scholar with extensive contributions to microbial biotechnology and nanobiotechnology research, particularly in the green synthesis of metal nanoparticles using fungi and their application as nano‑antimicrobials. His work is highly interdisciplinary, bridging microbiology, biotechnology, and nanoscience, and he is an active member of several scientific societies. He has received multiple national and international distinctions, including the Father T.A. Mathias Award from the All-India Association for Christian Higher Education and the Medini Award from the Government of India. Professor Rai has also held numerous visiting scientist and visiting professor positions across Europe, South America, and Asia, contributing to long‑standing research collaborations in countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Hungary, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and the United States. His sustained academic impact is reflected in his inclusion among the global top 2% of scientists in nanoscience and nanotechnology, and recognition as one of India’s leading researchers in biology and biochemistry, including a Biology and Biochemistry India Leader Award from Research.com. Dr. Kateryna Kon, MD, PhD, currently works at the Department of Microbiology, Virology and Immunology at Kharkiv National Medical University, Kharkiv, Ukraine as an Associate Professor. Dr. Kon received the Best Young Scientist of Kharkiv Award in 2007. She has ten years of teaching and fifteen years of research experience. She is an editorial board member of six international peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Kon's scientific contributions include more than 100 publications, 6 books and 18 scientific articles. The main focus of Dr. Kon’s research is antibiotic resistance in bacteria, coping with microbial resistance by plant essential oils and nanoparticles, microbiology of surgical and gynaecological infections, application of different statistical methods to analysis of biomedical data.

• Section A: Nanotechnology in the diagnosis, treatment and prophylaxis of infectious diseases: General principles1. Gold and silver nanoparticles for diagnostics of infection Pedro Pedrosa and Pedro V. Baptista 2. Antimicrobial models in nanotechnology, from the selection to application in the control and treatment of infectious diseases Juan Bueno3. Silver nanoparticles in the control of vector-borne infections Kateryna Kon and Mahendra Rai 4. Magnetite nanostructures: Trends in anti-infectious therapy Alexandru Mihai Grumezescu, Alina Maria Holban and Florin Iordache 5. Photodynamic therapy of infectious disease mediated by functionalized fullerenes Michael R Hamblin and Zeyd Issa 6. Non conventional routes to silver nanoantimicrobials: technological issues, bioactivity, applications Federica Paladini, Mauro Pollini, Alessandro Sannino, Maria Chiara Sportelli, Rosaria Anna Picca, Nicola Cioffi, Marco Valentini, Maria Angela Nitti and Antonio Valentini 7. Application of nano materials in prevention of bone and joint infections Nusret Kose and Aydan Kose Section B: Nanotechnology in coping with bacterial infections8. The potency of metal nanoparticles to inhibit bacterial biofilms Krystyna I Wolska and Katarzyna Markowska 9. Tackling the problem of tuberculosis by nanotechnology: disease, diagnosis and drug delivery Kateryna Kon, Mahendra Rai and Avinash Ingle 10. Influence of physico-chemical properties of nanomaterials on their antibacterial applications Vipul Bansal and Hemant Kumar Daima 11. Nanocarriers against bacterial biofilms Noha Adel Nafee12. Nanomaterials for antibacterial textiles Nabil Abd El-Basset Ibrahim13. Complexes of metal based nanoparticles with chitosan suppressing the risk of bacterial infections René Kizek, Dagmar Chudobova, Kristyna Cihalova, Pavel Kopel, Lukas Melichar, Branislav Ruttkay-Nedecky and Vojtech Adam Section C: Nanotechnology in coping with viral infections14. Nanotechnology - is there any hope for treatment of HIV infections or is it simply impossible? Ranjita Shegokar15. Nanotherapeutic approach to target HIV-1 persistence in the brain Supriya Dinkar Mahajan, Ravikumar Aalinkeel, Jessica Reynolds, BinduKumar Nair, Stanley A Schwartz and Paras N Prasad Section D: Nanotechnology in coping with fungal infections16. A novel fungicidal action of silver nanoparticles: Apoptosis induction Dong Gun Lee and Wonyoung Lee 17. Silver nanoparticles to fight Candida co-infection in oral cavity Mariana Henriques, Douglas Roberto Monteiro, Debora Barros Barbosa, Emerson Rodrigues de Camargo, Sónia Silva, Melyssa Negri and Luiz Fernando Gorup Section E: Nanotechnology in coping with protozoal and parasitic infections18. Nanomedical therapeutic strategies against intracellular protozoa in the Americas Eder Lilia Romero