Mathematical Modeling of Hydrogels: Gelation, Physical Properties, and Drug Delivery

Dear Colleagues,

Mathematical modeling has played a key role in the engineering and design of hydrogels for controlled drug delivery.

Mathematical models enable understanding of the critical physical phenomena involved in drug delivery systems and, once their predictive capability has been established, they can be used for the rational design of the device according to the desired performances.

Since the initial contributions of Prof. Takeru Higuchi in 1961, mathematical modeling of drug delivery systems has become a well-established and ever-expanding field. The development of new methods and software optimization as well as increasing computational power have contributed to a refinement of precision in drug delivery modeling. Now complex simulations can accommodate moving boundary conditions or the integration of disparate physical models. In addition, drug delivery modeling benefits not only from standard approaches based on fundamental mass, energy and momentum conservation equations, but also from methods focused on the molecular scale that act as a “computational microscope” and provide valuable insights not always accessible from an experimental point of view.

The present Special Issue is dedicated to an overview of the most relevant applications of mathematical models on the design of hydrogels for controlled drug delivery with special emphasis on gelation, physical properties, and final applications.

Dr. Mark W. Tibbitt
Dr. Filippo Rossi
Guest Editors

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