Multifunctional Hydrogel Platforms for Tissue Engineering and Biomedical Applications

Dear Colleagues,

Tissue loss or bone damage through injury or disease is a challenging task worldwide and rapidly increasing with society′s development. The native tissue has limited self-regeneration potential, insufficient to regenerate or repair the critical defects. The availability of the donor is also limited. Therefore, we must develop an alternative and fascinating approach, rapidly regenerating or repairing damaged tissues. Tissue engineering involves using of biomaterials, growth factors, and associated cells. Hence, the selection and development of biomaterials are the most critical task of tissue engineering. The biomaterials should accelerate cell adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation.

Furthermore, the developed biomaterials should mimic the native microenvironment of tissue to enhance the cellular process. The biomaterials should have suitable mechanical strength, pores, biodegradability, and be biocompatible for tissue engineering and biomedical applications. In tissue engineering, nanofibers, hydrogels, sponges, and nanoparticles are widely explored. Among these, hydrogels have been paid significant attention due to their appealing physicochemical properties, such as biodegradability, and biocompatibility. Hydrogels are three-dimensional (3D) networks of polymer chains containing a massive amount of water in their structure. Various naturally derived and synthetic polymers are used to develop hydrogels for different applications. Additionally, the properties of the hydrogels can be changed by adding nanomaterials or cross-linking agents into the polymer matrix to achieve multifunctionality in the hydrogels. This Special Issue explores the fabrication of multifunctional hydrogels for tissue engineering and biomedical applications. We hope this special issue will receive the current state of the art and explore different applications in tissue engineering and biomedical fields.

Dr. Dinesh K. Patel
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.

• multifunctional hydrogels
• tissue engineering
• biocompatibility
• biomedicine