Hydrogels in Tissue Engineering

Dear Colleagues,

Hydrogels form the foundation of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine as a supportive matrix for cell immobilization and growth factor delivery. Hydrogels, due to their wide range of properties, have been used as injectable, in situ gelling, patterned matrices, viscous gels, thin sheets, and three-dimensional scaffolds in regenerative medicine to guide and regulate cell fate. It has been widely established that the fate of implanted cells is mediated by cell–matrix and matrix–morphogen interactions at nano-, micro-, and macro-scales. Further, the fate of multi-cellular implants is dependent on in situ, timed-release of growth factors to guide the differentiation and maturation of cells to different lineages. As a result, recently there has been great interest in hydrogels with a hierarchical structure that mimic the complex interaction of cells with their microenvironment at multiple length scales, and hydrogels that can locally release growth factors to specific cells at different time scales. Related topics include: hydrogels with a hierarchical structure; self-assembled hydrogels; hybrid and degradable hydrogels; load-bearing and self-healing hydrogels; hydrogels for cell encapsulation and biofabrication; hydrogels for micro-patterning, microfluidic devices, and high-throughput screening; injectable and in situ hardening hydrogels for minimally-invasive applications; hydrogels that modulate the body’s immune response; and hydrogel-based delivery systems for spatiotemporal delivery of growth factors.

Prof. Dr. Esmaiel Jabbari
Guest Editor

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