Dear Colleagues,

Engineering complex tissues that can mimic or stimulate native tissue functions hold enormous promise in treating organ failures resulting from injuries, aging, and diseases. Our inability to mimic complex tissue architectures, and to provide essential cellular microenvironments, are some of the challenges that need to be addressed to control the formation of functional tissues. Designing advanced biotherapeutic materials with controlled physical, chemical, electrical, and biological properties will therefore be beneficial for facilitating the formation of functional tissues.

Among different biomaterials, nanomaterials are one of the potential candidates they can mimic the physical, chemical, electrical, and biological properties of most biological tissues. New applications of the nanomaterials have emerged, particularly in the fields of stem cell engineering, tissue engineering, immunomodulation, cellular and molecular therapies, and cancer research. Most of these applications demand multiple functionalities from the nanomaterials and dynamic interactions between the surrounding matrices and cells. A range of innovations, in polymer chemistry, micro- and nanofabrication technologies, and biomolecular engineering, have pushed the limit for designing composite hydrogel networks with customized functionality. Recent trends also indicate significant and growing interest in developing nanomaterials for various biomedical applications.

This Special Issue seeks contributions regarding new advances in functional nanomaterials with specific emphasis on emerging biomedical applications, such as tissue engineering.  In particular, contributions highlighting some of the emerging trends in designing complex nanomaterials with multiple functionalities are encouraged. We wish to publish original research or review articles in this issue mainly focusing on the following topics:

1. Biofunctional Nanomaterials for Clinical Applications
2. Polymeric Material based Drug or Gene delivery
3. Nanocomposite Hydrogels for Tissue Engineering
4. Bioactive Polymer Coatings for Biomedical Devices
5. Nanotopography and Stem Cells

Dr. Akhilesh K. Gaharwar
Dr. Arghya Paul
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. Journal of Functional Biomaterials 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 2700 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.