Biomaterials Science Emerging Investigators 2021

Jianjun Cheng a and Maria E. Southall b
aUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
bRoyal Society of Chemistry, Thomas Graham House, Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge, UK. E-mail: biomaterialsscience-rsc.org

It is with great pleasure that we present the 2021 Biomaterials Science Emerging Investigators Issue. This collection comprises 20 reviews and 30 research articles across the breadth of the scope of the journal, ranging from new biomaterials to tissue/cell engineering models, immunotherapy and drug delivery and release.

As before, our Editorial and Advisory Boards selected for invitation leading early-career biomaterials researchers in recognition of their potential to influence future directions in the field of biomaterials.

Some of the contributions focus on synthesis of new biomaterials and nanocomposites for cell/tissue models (DOI: 10.1039/D0BM00558D, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01485K, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM02169E, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01471K, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM00906G) and many contributions describe research or summarise progress on hydrogels for various cellular applications (DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01588A, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01373K, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01943G, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01852J, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01196G, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01372B, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01499K, DOI: 10.1039/D1BM00016K, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM02051F). Other work focuses on aspects of tissue engineering (DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01240H, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM02123G, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01247E, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01161D, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01010C).

A number of papers focus on aspects of immunotherapy (DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01171A, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01385D, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01183E, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01171A, 10.1039/D0BM01154A, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM00855A, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM00622J) and others focus on aspects of gene delivery (DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01367F, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01278E, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01947J, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01497D, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01335H, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01231A), drug delivery (DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01804J, DOI: 10.1039/D1BM00104C, DOI: 10.1039/D1BM00044F, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01881C, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01609H, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01084G) or work focussing on aspects of controlled release (DOI: 10.1039/D0BM00986E, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01766C, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01751E, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01277G).

This is not an exhaustive list of the topics covered in this collection and we strongly advise readers to evaluate all of the contributions contained in this collection! We hope you enjoy the issue and will continue to follow the exciting developments in biomaterials science and the work of these emerging investigators.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of the authors and reviewers who have supported the journal thus far.

Finally, we would like to update the community that the Biomaterials Science Emerging Investigators themed collection is changing in 2021 and readers should follow the journal on social media (@BioMaterSci) and sign up for journal alerts for the updates to this scheme to be announced in early summer 2021.

Jianjun Cheng, Editor-in-Chief

Maria Southall, Executive Editor


This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2021