Responsive biomaterials for tissue regeneration

Biomaterials for tissue regeneration have been rapidly evolving within the past several decades, bringing numerous exciting possibilities for enhancing the innate healing/regeneration capabilities and/or treating the defects, losses, or dysfunctions of human body tissues/organs. Since native tissue regeneration processes require orderly regulation of different cell behaviors and functions by dynamic natural niches in a specific spatiotemporal manner, biomaterials that can resemble the dynamic features and functions of the natural niches will therefore hold great promise in assisting tissue regeneration.
Through introducing responsive components such as shape memory polymers, stimuli-responsive hydrogels, and electroactive polymers, the resultant biomaterials can obtain reconfigurable shapes and/or responsive properties that can be tuned in response to environmental changes or remoted controlled by external fields. Such responsive biomaterials will be more promising to meet the requirements of dynamic cell manipulation like the natural niche.

Despite the great promise of responsive biomaterials for improving tissue regeneration, there are many questions still pending in the field. For example, how to design new responsive biomaterials for specific tissue regeneration purposes? How much can the tissue repair and regeneration be benefited by reconfigurable tissue engineering scaffolds/implants based on responsive biomaterials? How to integrate state-of-art manufacturing technologies such as 4D printing in the design and formation of responsive biomaterials? How can the responsive biomaterials interact with cells and/or host tissues? This Research Topic aims to bring together leading researchers to exchange and share their findings, opinions, and perspectives on tracking these questions.

Original Research, Review, and Perspective articles with related topics or themes will be welcomed, including but not limited to:
· Design and development of shape memory polymers, stimuli-responsive hydrogels, electroactive materials and other responsive biomaterials with specific tissue regeneration potential
· Reconfigurable tissue engineering scaffolds/implants for tissue repair and regeneration
· 4D printed tissue engineering scaffolds or cell-laden constructs
· Biocompatibility and biodegradation of responsive biomaterials
· Immune responses and in vivo performances of responsive biomaterials
· Actuators and soft robots for cell manipulation and tissue regeneration