Hydrogels in Biomedicine: Drug Delivery and Tissue Engineering
A special issue of Gels (ISSN 2310-2861). This special issue belongs to the section "Gel Applications".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 May 2026 | Viewed by 4
Special Issue Editors
Interests: biomaterials; hydrogel; peripheral nerve regeneration; drug delivery; tissue engineering; regenerative medicine
Interests: microglia morphology; neurodegeneration; in vivo animal models
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Hydrogels have emerged as versatile biomaterials with unique properties—high water content, tunable mechanical behavior, and excellent biocompatibility—that make them ideal for biomedical applications. In recent years, hydrogels have been engineered not only as passive scaffolds but also as active platforms for drug delivery, tissue regeneration, and cellular therapy.
This Special Issue will highlight cutting-edge research on hydrogels for drug delivery and tissue engineering, with a special focus on regenerative strategies, neural repair, controlled release systems, and multifunctional hydrogel composites. We welcome contributions covering novel synthesis and characterization methods, in vitro and in vivo performance evaluation, translational approaches, and clinical potential.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Smart hydrogels with stimuli-responsive drug release;
- Injectable hydrogels for localized therapy;
- Hydrogel-based scaffolds for tissue engineering (nerve, bone, cartilage, skin);
- Hybrid and composite hydrogel systems;
- Biofunctionalization for enhanced cellular interaction and regeneration;
- Hydrogel-assisted delivery of cells, growth factors, or gene therapy agents.
We invite original research articles, reviews, and perspectives that explore innovative hydrogel systems with biomedical applications.
We look forward to your contributions and to advancing this exciting field together.
Sincerely,
Dr. Alexandra Rotaru Zavaleanu
Dr. Bogdan Catalin
Guest Editors
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
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.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- hydrogel
- drug delivery
- tissue engineering
- regenerative medicine
- peripheral nerve regeneration
- biomaterials
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