Relevant Hydrogels Applications in Biomedical Field

Dear Colleagues,

Hydrogels are the mixture of hydrophilic polymer networks and aqueous fluid, that show unique tunable viscoelasticity and structural similarity to the extracellular matrix, making them inherently well suited for biological and biomedical applications. Over the past several decades, many exciting hydrogel designs with optimized mechanical strength, release/degradation kinetics, and high bioactivities have been successfully transformed into drug delivery, wound dressing, and tissue engineering. Recently, with the development of clinical concepts/technologies (e.g., medical ultrasound, artificial electronic skins), the rational invasive integration of continuous imaging, disease diagnosis, and efficient treatment in soft hydrogels gradually emerged and developed. Obviously, many remaining exciting hydrogel-related biomedical applications are worthy for us to explore.

This Special Issue is a thorough collection of articles dealing with hydrogels applications in the biomedical field, including the rational synthesis and characterization of biocompatible hydrogels, the fabrication of hydrogel devices for biomedical trials, as well as other biomedical innovations. In addition, to show a better understanding of these applications, we highly encourage those submission related to multidisciplinary works, for instance, nanomedicines/hydrogels control-release systems, electronic/ hydrogels devices, novel structural hydrogels/bio-models, hydrogels/ medical instruments. Publication of original research articles, rapid communications or reviews in this Special Issue will make an important contribution to advancing their biomedical applications. We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Dong Zhang
Dr. Siyu Zheng
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. 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.

• hydrogels
• biomedical applications
• drug delivery
• tissue engineering
• artificial hydrogel-based electronic skins
• wound healings
• cell scaffolds
• DNA hydrogels