ARS | Publication request: Hydrogels from biopolymer hybrid for biomedical, food, and functional food applications

Submitted to: Polymer Journal
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: March 29, 2012
Publication Date: April 13, 2012
Citation: Liu, L.S., Kost, J., Yan, F., Spiro, R.C. 2012. Hydrogels from biopolymer hybrid for biomedical, food, and functional food applications. Polymer. 4(2):997-1011.

Technical Abstract: Hybrid hydrogels from biopolymers have been applied for various indications across a wide range of biomedical, pharmaceutical, and functional food industries. In particular, hybrid hydrogels synthesized from two biopolymers have attracted increasing attention. The inclusion of a second biopolymer strengthens the stability of resultant hydrogels and enriches its functionalities by bringing in new functional groups or optimizing the micro-environmental conditions for certain biological and biochemical processes. This article presents approaches that have been used by our groups to synthesize biopolymer hybrid hydrogels for effective uses for immunotherapy, tissue regeneration, food and functional food applications. The research has achieved some challenging results, such as stabilizing physical structure, increasing mucoadhesiveness, and the creation of an artificial extracellular matrix to aid in guiding tissue differentiation.