Recent Advances in Hydrogel-Based Biomaterials

Dear Colleagues,

Hydrogels, as water-soluble polymers, have recently drawn more and more attention, have been broadly used as biomaterials, and have been selected for biomedical engineering applications, such as 3D bioprinting, due to its similarities to the natural extracellular matrix that enables cellular functions such as cell proliferation and differentiation. The applications of hydrogels include, but are not limited to, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and drug screening. Even though great progress has been made in the discovery of novel hydrogels which are suitable for biomedical applications, the currently existing hydrogels and their application areas are still quite limited. This Special Issue, “Hydrogels for Biomaterials Application”, aims to collect any recent studies ranging from the discovery/synthesis of novel hydrogels, characterizations of functional hydrogel-based biomaterials’ tunable properties, and various innovational biomedical applications of existing hydrogels. Review papers and perspectives that summarize state-of-the-art applications of hydrogels and the future perspectives of hydrogels are also welcome. Through this Special Issue, we look forward to facilitating the advances in materials science and seeing the broader impact of the utilization of hydrogels in new fields such as tissue engineering.

Dr. Changxue Xu
Dr. Heqi Xu
Dr. Yang Li
Guest Editors

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