Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. David Díaz Díaz, we wish to acknowledge our reviewers who so generously offer their time to review the papers submitted to Gels by presenting an award to the reviewers who have demonstrated their dedication, professionalism, and timeliness in reviewing manuscripts for Gels.

What are the pre-requisites to be eligible for this award?
– All of the reviewers for Gels in 2023 will be automatically included.

Selection Criteria:
– Number of review reports;
– The quality and timeliness of review reports.

What will the winners receive?
There will be two winners this year, and each will receive the following:
– CHF 500;
– An opportunity to publish a paper free of charge in Gels in 2024 after peer review;
– A certificate.

When will the winners be announced?
– The winners will be announced in February 2024 on the journal website.

How can I make myself eligible?
– If you have not yet reviewed papers for Gels, but would like to do so, you can register as a reviewer at the following link:
https://susy.mdpi.com/volunteer/profile/edit.

Kind regards,
Gels Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the “Gels 2022 Best Paper Award” for research and review articles published in Gels from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022. One review and one research article will receive an award each. The papers will be selected after a thorough evaluation by the journal Award Committee led by the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. David Díaz Díaz.

Eligibility for the Award:
– Papers published in Gels from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022;
– Open to all career levels;
– Both regular and Special Issue submissions will be considered.

Selection Criteria:
The papers will be selected by the journal Award Committee according to the following criteria:
– Scientific merit and broad impact;
– Originality of the research objectives and/or the ideas presented;
– Creativity of the study design or uniqueness of the approaches and concepts;
– Clarity of presentation;
– Citations and downloads.

The Prize:
– One review award: CHF 500 and a chance to publish a paper free of charge in Gels in 2024 after peer review;
– One research article award: CHF 500 CHF and a chance to publish a paper free of charge in Gels in 2024 after peer review.
– Each winner will also receive a certificate.

The winners will be announced on the journal website in March 2024.

Kind regards,
Gels Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

As the Editor-in-Chief of Gels, I am pleased to announce the winner of the Gels 2023 Travel Award. The award has been granted to Dr. María Vivero López, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. She will be awarded CHF 500 to attend the CRS 2023 Annual Meeting, which will be held in the USA.

With so many high-quality applicants, the evaluation process and final decision were challenging. We would like to thank all the applicants for submitting their diverse and fascinating research topics. On behalf of the assessment committee, I congratulate the winner on her accomplishments.

Prof. Dr. David Díaz Díaz
Editor-in-Chief, Gels

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Gels 2022 Outstanding Reviewer Award. The Gels Editorial Board and Editorial Team would like to gratefully acknowledge the time and energy dedicated by reviewers in checking the manuscripts submitted to Gels. It is due to their efforts that the high quality of the journal and quick turnaround are maintained.

Dr. Bapan Pramanik
Affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheba, Israel
Research Interest: hydrogels; self-assembly; peptide nanostructures; nanomaterials; system chemistry

Dr. Mutian Hua
Affiliation: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
Research Interest: structural hydrogels; soft robotics; 3D printing; dynamic covalent bond

The Prize for Each Winner:

• CHF 500;
• An opportunity to publish a paper free of charge in Gels in 2023 after peer review;
• A certificate.

Kind regards,
Gels Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

As Editor-in-Chief of Gels, I am pleased to announce the winner of the Gels 2022 Travel Award. The award has been granted to: Dr. Lan Xiao, a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, Australia. Dr. Lan Xiao’s research mainly focuses on developing potential therapeutic approaches to induce/improve tissue regeneration (e.g., bone regeneration, neuronal regeneration, wound healing, vascular regeneration, etc.) by modulating the immune system to ensure the local environment is beneficial for regeneration.

With so many high-quality applicants, the evaluation process and final decision were challenging. We would like to thank all the applicants for submitting their diverse and fascinating range of research topics. On behalf of the assessment committee, I congratulate the winner on her accomplishments.

Prof. Dr. David Díaz Díaz,
Editor-in-Chief, Gels

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Gels 2021 Best Paper Award.
All papers published in 2021 in Gels were considered for the award. After a thorough evaluation of the originality and significance of the papers, citations, and downloads, two winners were selected.

One Review:
Synthesis of Nanogels: Current Trends and Future Outlook
by Emanuele Mauri, Sara Maria Giannitelli, Marcella Trombetta and Alberto Rainer
Gels 2021, 7(2), 36; doi:10.3390/gels7020036

One Article:
Tunable Human Myocardium Derived Decellularized Extracellular Matrix for 3D Bioprinting and Cardiac Tissue Engineering
By Gozde Basara, S. Gulberk Ozcebe, Bradley W. Ellis and Pinar Zorlutuna
Gels 2021, 7(2), 70; doi: 10.3390/gels7020070

Each winner will receive CHF 500 and a chance to publish a paper in Gels in 2023 free of charge after peer review.

Please join us in congratulating the winners of Gels 2021 Best Paper Award.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our authors for your continued support of Gels.

Kind regards,
Gels Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Gels 2021 Travel Award:

Dr. Demetra Giuri, University of Bologna, Italy.

Dr. Demetra Giuri obtained her Master's degree cum laude in industrial chemistry from the Department of Industrial Chemistry “Toso Montanari” of the Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna (Italy). She obtained her PhD in organic chemistry in March 2020 under the supervision of Professor Claudia Tomasini from the Department of Chemistry “Giacomo Ciamician”, University of Bologna. She is presently a post-doctoral fellow in the same group. Her research interest focuses on the preparation of supramolecular gels starting from peptide-based low-molecular-weight gelators. Dr. Giuri will attend the 15th International Conference on Materials Chemistry and deliver a speech about her paper “Supramolecular Hydrogels Evolving into Crystals and Their Use in Multicomponent Systems”.

Ms. Martina Genta, Imperial College London, UK.

Martina Genta is a PhD student in the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London. In 2014 and 2016, respectively, she received her Bachelor's and Master's Degree in Biomedical Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Turin (Italy). After a first experience in Volumina Medical SA, a Swiss start-up developing biomaterial solutions for soft tissue repair, she joined Dr. Rylie Green’s group in October 2018. Her research focuses on living bioelectronics as a new approach for implantable neuroprosthetic devices. Ms. Genta will attend the 6th World Congress of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society and deliver a speech about her paper “Cell–Material Interaction in Biosynthetic Hydrogels for Biomimetic Neural Interfaces”.

The Travel Award consists of a certificate and CHF 400. Congratulations to the winners of this highly competitive Travel Award.

We would like to thank all of the Scientific Committee members for their assiduous evaluation of the candidates, as well as all of the applicants for submitting their diverse and fascinating range of research topics.

Gels Editorial Office

Dear colleagues,
On behalf of the Evaluation Committee, we are pleased to announce the two winners of the 2019 Gels Travel Award, who will receive 400 CHF each towards travel expenses to participate at an international conference in the second half of 2019 or the first half of 2020.

The 2019 Gels Travel Award have been granted to: Dr. Pasquale Sacco, a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Trieste, Italy. His main field of research deals with the development and application of nano/macro-engineered polysaccharide (mainly chitosan and its derivatives) biomaterials to be used in surgery, regenerative medicine, and drug delivery. Ms. Ana Casanova Martínez, a second-year PhD student at the University of Orléans, France. Her research focus on the synthesis of nanoporous carbon gels (xerogels) with controlled pore architectures and conductivity for energy and environmental applications. Please join us in extending our congratulations to the winners of this incredibly competitive travel award!

Prof. Dr. David Díaz Díaz
Chair of the Evaluation Committee
Editor-in-Chief of Gels

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the Evaluation Committee, we are pleased to announce the two winners of the 2018 Gels Travel Award, who will receive 400 CHF each towards their travel expenses to participate at an international conference in 2018.

The 2018 Gels Travel Award have been granted to:

Dr. Daniela Filipa Duarte Campos, a postdoctoral researcher at RWTH Aachen University Hospital, Germany. Her research focuses on novel challenging aspects in the field of hydrogel-based 3D bioprinting. She will present novel findings obtained during her postdoctoral work related to cell-loaded hydrogel 4D bioprinting at the 2018 International Conference on Biofabrication, which will be held in Würzburg, Germany, from 28-31 October, 2018.

And Dr. Maria M. Pérez-Madrigal, a Marie-Curie Fellow at the University of Birmingham, UK. Her research focus is on developing polymer-based hydrogels as scaffolds for load-bearing soft tissue regeneration. She will present her work as a poster at the 29th Annual Meeting of the European Society for Biomaterials (ESB2018), which will take place from 9–13 September 2018 in Maastricht, the Netherlands.

It was a very difficult decision with such high-quality applications for the award, and we would like to thank all the applicants in various fields of study for their participation and all of the Award Committee members for their evaluation of the abundant excellent applications. Congratulations to the winners on their accomplishments!

Prof. Dr. David Díaz Díaz
Chair of the Evaluation Committee
Editor-in-Chief of Gels