Collagen-Based Materials
A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Biomacromolecules, Biobased and Biodegradable Polymers".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2022) | Viewed by 15216
Special Issue Editors
Interests: collagen materials, engineering and characterization
Interests: cell-collagen interactions; tissue engineering; regenerative medicine; additive manufacturing
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Collagen is the most important structural protein in human and animal organisms. It is a major component of the extracellular matrix (ECM) and provides a stable scaffold for all kinds of tissue, e.g., skin, tendon, cartilage, bone, blood vessels, and organs. Due to its high biocompatibiliy and low immunogenity, collagen is frequently used as a basic material for medical devices, such as wound dressings, implants for soft and hard tissue replacement, scaffolds for tissue engineering, or carriers in drug delivery. In medical applications, collagen is not only a convenient cell substrate but is also actively recognized by cells via receptors (e.g., integrins), which leads to enhanced adhesion, proliferation, migration or differenciation of cells. Thus, collagen contributes to healing processes such as hemostasis and tissue regeneration. The chemical and molecular basis which underlies these effects is not yet completely understood and still causes intensive research, including studies on collagen chemistry and structure as well as the mechanisms of cell–collagen interaction. Furthermore, processing of collagen is still an important topic today, starting with the recovery from animal sources (bovine, porcine or equine tissues) and the preparation of collagen solutions, dispersions or powders, to the production of collageneous products for medical and pharmaceutical applications. In this field, the focus is recently shifting from pure collagen preparations to the whole extracellular matrix, including, aside from collagen, other proteins (elastin, fibrillin), proteoglycans, and glycosaminoglycans. A steadily growing number of analytical methods (physical, chemical, mechanical, and biological) accompanies the development of new processes and products and increases our knowledge of this fascinating protein.
Although thoroughly investigated for decades in different aspects, there are still many secrets linked to collagen that have yet to be uncovered and require further investigation. This Special Issue on “Collagen Materials” aims at the compilation of recent results in collagen research, covering all aspects of collagen as a protein and biopolymer with versatile properties and application potential. We invite the submission of original research papers and reviews on topics such as chemical or structural features of collagen, interactions with cells and other ECM components, collagen production and processing, and medical or other applications and analytics.
Dr. Michael Meyer
Dr. Enno Klüver
Dr. Ina Prade
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. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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.
Keywords
- collagen structure and modeling
- collagen in regenerative medicine
- synthetic collagen
- collagen analysis
- collagen processing
- collagen peptides and metabolism
- cell–collagen interactions
