Rational design in functional hydrogels towards biotherapeutics

[Display omitted] •Designing hydrogels with proper properties and advanced functions is very important for clinical application.•The physicochemical properties play an important role for rational design of functional hydrogels.•The engineering strategies in designed functionality facilitate to improve the therapeutic performance of hydrogels. Hydrogels are widely used in biomedical field such as wound healing, tissue adhesive and tissue regeneration. Hydrogels with customized functions to meet the requirements of personalized medicine have increasingly become the frontier of clinical translation in the future. However, selecting appropriate functional materials and design strategies to optimize the biological performance of hydrogels are still challenging. It requires the integration of the network structure and physical properties of hydrogels with their functions and biological performances. The situation will be more complicate when hydrogels serve as a platform on which cooperate and communicate with biological systems. In this review, the principles in affording functions of hydrogels systems are outlined, with focus on the relation between the basic properties of hydrogels and biological functions. Their benefit and limitation from design strategies are summarized, and the prospects of advanced applications such as cellular scaffolds and immune therapy are discussed. These principles and understanding will facilitate to improve the therapeutic performance of hydrogels and further advance the robust design and implementation of such functional biomaterials.