Polymeric materials are extensively used in biomedical fields, such as implants, interventional materials, ophthalmic materials, surgical instruments, wound dressing, drug carriers, in vivo biosensors, in vitro diagnostic devices, and so on. Natural polymers, especially polysaccharides, are typically the choice to build up these types of materials or devices due mainly to their biocompatibility and biodegradability. However, the physical and chemical properties of polysaccharides, such as solubility, hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity, melting point, glass transition temperature, degradation rate, mechanical strength, etc. cannot always meet the requirements of the biomaterials. Therefore, thanks to the technological progress of controllable polymerization, synthetic polymers with good biocompatible properties became more important to serve as the components of biomaterials.

The biggest family of biomedical synthetic polymer materials is the water-soluble polymers, the most famous members of which may include polyethylene glycol (PEG), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyacrylic acid (PAA), polyacrylamide (PAM), polyvinylamine(PVAm), polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), etc. and their derivatives and co-polymers, including side-chain modification/functionalization, and block/graft co-polymers, etc. The molecular conformation of the polymers is not limited to linear form, while branched form, comb-like form, multi-arm structure, micelles, or any network structures are developed to fulfill the specific requirements. The precise design of the polymer is the key to meet the specific demand of biomedical application scenarios.

The application fields of water-soluble polymers cover but are not limited to:

• Hydrogels
• Hydrophilic surface modifications of biomaterials
• Anti-fouling and antibacterial coating
• Lubrication
• Drug and gene carrier
• Drug additives

This research topic may include all preparation and applications of water-soluble polymers in the biomedical field, as well as the biocompatibility tests and devices made, while any theoretical explanations, computational simulations, and critical reviews are also welcomed.

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Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology

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