Preface

Funding

As with any program of this nature, it would not have been possible without financial support by NSFC, JSPS and KOSEF. The A3 Foresight Program has been successful due to incredible effort and patience of the members, guest researchers and students who joined the program with high enthusiasm. We are greatly indebted to everyone who has participated and contributed to this program. We also express our deepest gratitude to Professor Ick Chan Kwon, Editor for Asia, and Professor Kinam Park, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Controlled Release for their editorial help and this outstanding opportunity. This special issue is a collection of research presentations made at the A3 Foresight Program for “Novel cell-specific and pH-sensitive non-viral gene carrier system”. The A3 Foresight Program has supported international collaborative research activities among three Asian (A3) countries, including China, Japan and Korea, through agreements among National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), and Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF). This consortium is designed to advance cutting-edge research with an aim to establish a top-level research hub in Asia in the research fields of non-viral gene carrier.