The repair and construction of functional human tissues and organs are still great challenges in the biomedical engineering field. Hydrogels possess polymer networks with three-dimensional structure and absorb water, which is similar to the physical feature of human tissue. In addition, hydrogels exhibit good biocompatibility and could provide microenvironments and stimulus response properties in an organism. Therefore, hydrogels gain more attention as potential candidates for mimicking human tissues. Biologically active hydrogels are extensively used in the repair and development of functional human tissues, such as bone, muscle, retina, kidney, blood vessels, and nerves. However, significant challenges remain to be overcome, including issues with poor mechanism properties and the uncontrollable degradation process. The focus of this Research Topic is the progress and challenges in designing biologically active hydrogels for successful application in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

In terms of engineered tissues, the major obstacle of bioactive hydrogels is the poor performance in mimicking tissue microenvironments, with which there is a huge gap compared with human tissues. To further the revelation of how to overcome this issue, the following topics should be addressed.

1) how to improve the mechanical strength of hydrogels
2) how to make the degradation process controllable
3) how to improve the biocompatibility of hydrogels
4) how to improve the biological response of hydrogels for complicated microenvironments in vivo
5) how to optimize the construction of hydrogels in aspects of composition, structure, and surface-interface interactions to mimic tissues better

Improving the unappreciated issues in construction of bioactive hydrogels, new technologies and new functional materials that can better mimic human tissues are the focus of this article collection.

The objective of this Research Topic is to cover the prospective current and novel research regarding bioactive hydrogels for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. It may include (but is not limited to) the following themes:
• Preparation and design of novel hydrogels with expected mechanism property, biocompatibility and controllable degradation process
• Novel technologies for synthesis of hydrogels
• “Smart” hydrogels with biological responses
• Technologies and design of engineered tissues based on hydrogels

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