Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue, entitled “Advances in Gels for Biomedical Applications”, is exclusively dedicated to recent advancements in the design, synthesis, and characterization of nanocomposite-based gels for a broad range of biomedical applications including drug delivery, gene therapy, tissue engineering, biosensing, wound healing, bioimaging, dentistry, and pharmaceutical applications.

Well-designed gels possess excellent controllability and functionality, providing versatile platforms for biomedical applications. The high water content, ease of handling, mechanical strength, desirable swelling behavior, and, most importantly, biocompatibility and stimuli sensitivity make the potential application of gels in complex biological environments appealing. When nanoparticles are incorporated into the three-dimensional porous structure of gels, their properties improve towards biological applications as nanomaterials increase their surface area and provide prolonged circulation in blood for effective bioconjugation. Due to the availability of interior networks with properties covering all of the important parameters, hydrogels have proven their suitability in biomedical applications from cost-effective fabrication to effective performance. Several nanomaterials, such as quantum dots, metal nanoparticles, nanorods, nanotubes, nanofibers, nanowires, etc., are combined with polymers, biopolymers, as well as with other nanomaterials and are engineered for the preparation of hydrogels with superior chemical, physical, and biological properties. However, many challenges in this field which restrict the upgradation of nanohydrogels from laboratory to clinical trials for practical real-world implementation still need to be addressed. In this Special Issue, we aim to gather original experimental papers with novel findings along with reviews with adequate logical explanations and critical analyses with regard to several problems and drawbacks associated in this field, with an aspiration to encourage future research and development.

Prof. Dr. Sarat Kumar Swain
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. Gels 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 2600 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.

• gels
• nanocomposite hydrogels
• biomedical applications
• drug delivery
• gene therapy
• tissue engineering
• wound healing
• biosensing
• bioimaging
• cancer therapy
• dentistry
• medicine
• disease treatment