Gel Biomaterials for Antibacterial and Biomedical Applications
A special issue of Gels (ISSN 2310-2861). This special issue belongs to the section "Gel Applications".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 January 2027 | Viewed by 1025
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The development of gel biomaterials has profoundly transformed the landscape of biomedical research, offering unprecedented opportunities for addressing one of the most pressing challenges in modern medicine: bacterial infection. Since the early exploration of hydrogels as biomedical scaffolds, remarkable progress has been made in engineering gel-based platforms with tailored physicochemical properties, biocompatibility, and multifunctional bioactivity. Today, gel biomaterials stand at the forefront of antibacterial research, serving as versatile tools for wound healing, tissue engineering, and localized drug delivery. Despite these advances, the escalating threat of antibiotic-resistant pathogens has created an urgent demand for next-generation antibacterial strategies that move beyond conventional antibiotic therapies. Gel biomaterials offer a compelling solution, enabling the sustained and localized release of antimicrobial agents, the incorporation of bioactive nanoparticles, and the design of stimuli-responsive systems capable of on-demand antibacterial action. However, many fundamental questions regarding the optimization of gel formulations, the mechanisms of antibacterial performance, and the translation of laboratory findings into clinical practice remain to be fully addressed. We believe it is time to consolidate the growing body of knowledge in this field and to chart a new course for the rational design of gel biomaterials for antibacterial and biomedical applications. This Special Issue welcomes the submission of both original research articles and comprehensive review papers, including, but not limited to, antibacterial hydrogels, wound healing platforms, tissue engineering scaffolds, and drug delivery systems based on gel biomaterials. We look forward to receiving contributions from researchers across materials science, biomedical engineering, and microbiology.
Dr. Kihak Gwon
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Gels is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
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Keywords
- hydrogel
- antibacterial
- wound healing
- tissue engineering
- drug delivery
- biomaterials
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