Smart Biomaterials for Biofabrication: Design, Functionality, and Application
A special issue of Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X). This special issue belongs to the section "B2: Biofabrication and Tissue Engineering".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 22
Special Issue Editor
Interests: hydrogels; biomaterials; 3D bioprinting; nanoparticles; bioengineering
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
We are pleased to invite you to a Special Issue on “Smart Biomaterials for Biofabrication: Design, Functionality, and Application”.
This Special Issue aims at highlighting the role of smart biomaterials in different biomedical applications. Smart biomaterials represent a transformative change in biofabrication through their ability to precisely engineer complex biological structures using adaptive and stimulus-responsive features. These materials function as dynamic interfaces with biological systems because they detect environmental signals including temperature, pH, light, and biochemical indicators. The design of these materials includes biocompatibility features with biodegradability and mechanical adjustability to allow for smooth tissue integration while supporting cell attachment, growth, and differentiation. Smart biomaterials have evolved through advancements in polymer chemistry, nanotechnology, and 3D bioprinting to include hydrogels, shape-memory polymers, and conductive composites that modify their functions in real time to direct tissue growth and drug delivery.
Another class of smart biomaterials, thermoresponsive hydrogels, transform into liquid solutions at reduced temperatures, which enables cell encapsulation before a phase transition when exposed to body temperature. For instance, thermoresponsive hydrogels liquefy at lower temperatures for cell encapsulation and solidify at body temperature, enabling minimally invasive implantation. Similarly, pH-sensitive materials release therapeutics in targeted microenvironments, such as tumor sites. The applications of these materials extend to regenerative medicine and personalized disease modelling.
Emerging trends focus on multi-stimulus-responsive systems and AI-driven design to enhance precision. Challenges remain in scalability, long-term stability, and immune compatibility, yet the convergence of smart biomaterials with biofabrication holds immense potential to redefine healthcare, offering patient-specific solutions and advancing translational research.
In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome.
I look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Shabir Hassan
Guest Editor
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. Micromachines 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
- smart biomaterials
- biofabrication
- tissue engineering
- drug delivery
- 3D bioprinting
- minimally invasive implantation
- AI-driven design
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