Bioconjugation of hydrogels for tissue engineering

Success of tissue engineered constructs in regenerative medicine is limited by the lack of cellmatrix interactions to guide devleopment of the seeded cells into the desired tissue. This review highlights the most exciting developments in bioconjugation of synthetic hydrogels targeted to tissue engineering. Application of conjugation techniques has resulted in the synthesis of novel biomimetic cell-responsive hydrogels to control the cascade of cell migration, adhesion, survival, differentiation, and maturation to the desired lineage concurrent with matrix remodeling. The future outlook includes developing conjugated patterned hydrogel matrices, developing novel hydrogel matrices to support self-renewal and pluripotency of embryonic and adult stem cells, and merging 3D printing with bioconjugation to fabricate hydrogels with anatomical arrangement of cells and biomolecules.