The CRS is very proud to present this inaugural issue of Drug Delivery and Translational Research (DDTR), an official journal of the Controlled Release Society (CRS). DDTR will provide a forum for publishing research that connects basic science in drug delivery to clinical outcomes. It is very exciting for the CRS to provide this new publication with a focus on translational research and development in drug delivery. We envision this journal, as a complement to the Journal of Controlled Release, to enhance our ability to fulfill our mission as the international, multidisciplinary society dedicated to the science and technology of delivering bioactives. We expect this publication will grow to be an important and essential resource for all who are interested in the interface between basic science and the clinic in the delivery field.

This publication effort is lead by Editor-in-Chief Vinod Labhasetwar of the Cleveland Clinic, Lerner College of Medicine and Associate Editors Justin Hanes of Johns Hopkins University, and Kensuke Egashira of Kyushu University, along with a very distinguished Editorial Board.

Exclusively focused on translational aspects of drug delivery, this bi-monthly journal provides a unique forum for the publication of high-quality research focused on such topics as designing and developing novel drug delivery systems, with a focus on their application to disease conditions; preclinical and clinical data related to drug delivery systems; short-term and long-term biocompatibility of drug delivery systems, host response; biomaterials with growth factors for stem-cell differentiation in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering, image-guided drug therapy, nanomedicine, devices for drug delivery, and drug/device combination products.

Drug Delivery and Translational Research represents an important milestone in the growth of the CRS as we continue to create new vehicles to bring controlled release and, more generally, delivery science and technology to our members and the world. This is consistent with our heritage since the 1970s, where the CRS has sought to facilitate the advancement of controlled release science and technology across areas as diverse as agriculture, cosmetics, consumer products, green technologies, and pharmaceuticals. Over time, interest in controlled release has grown and broadened in scope due significantly to the realization of the economic, therapeutic, and social benefits that can be derived from technologies arising from this science. As controlled release science has developed and grown, the mission of the organization has broadened to cover all aspects of delivery science and technology, including increasingly the biological, physiological, preclinical, clinical, and development aspects in addition to maintaining a core focus in the physical science-based aspects such as formulation, processing, synthetic chemistry, and characterization. Our field draws on the expertise of many disciplines including chemistry, chemical engineering, pharmaceutics, physics, materials science, and the biological sciences—biochemistry, biophysics, molecular biology, physiology, cell biology, and medicine to name a few. Today, delivery science and technology is developing into a key multidisciplinary field with diverse applications and practitioners around the world. Our new journal, DDTR, will fill a unique role in providing a publishing venue for drug delivery and translational research.

To acknowledge accomplishments in this area, CRS and Springer Science + Business Media have also established the DDTR Outstanding Paper Award to recognize outstanding research published in DDTR. A selection committee will be established to evaluate all research papers published in DDTR within a calendar year and to recommend the award recipient. The award will be presented at the CRS Annual Meeting, and the recipient will also give an award-based presentation highlighting the winning research paper.

Finally, because the translational aspects of drug delivery are important to many CRS members, DDTR will be available online to CRS members as a benefit of membership. We invite you to be part of this exciting new journal both as an author and as a reader.