Meet the editors

Professor Popa Lăcrămioara received her PhD in Pharmacy in 2000. She is head of the Physical and Colloidal Chemistry Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, "Carol Davila" University of Medicine and Pharmacy (UMFCD), Bucharest, Romania, and President of the Ethics and Quality Assurance Commission from the same faculty. She is a member of the Council of Doctoral Studies from UMFCD and a PhD supervisor (Habilitation thesis, 2014). Professor Lăcrămioara

completed several courses in intellectual property (WIPO Academy, Geneva) and was an expert evaluator at the Executive Unit for Financing of Higher Education, Romania. She has more than 25 years of experience in the physicochemical research of drug products in relation to the formulation and characterization of different pharmaceutical forms, in silico modeling using QSAR techniques, drug formulation design, quality by design, analytical quality by design, and surface characteristics (wettability/hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity for various materials: pharmaceutical powders and dental materials). She has an H-index of 11.

Professor Ghica Mihaela Violeta received her PhD in Pharmacy in 2008. She is a professor at the Physical and Colloidal Chemistry Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, "Carol Davila" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania. She holds a master's degree in Physical Chemistry and Applied Radiochemistry at the Faculty of Chemistry from the University of Bucharest. She has more than 17 years of experience in the design, development, and physicochemi-

cal/biopharmaceutical evaluation of drug delivery systems with conventional/modified/ controlled/targeted release for topical applications; the use of statistic experimental design techniques combined with response surface methodology and the Taguchi approach for the optimization of pharmaceutical systems formulation and technological processes; and valorization of the biopharmacological potential of medicinal and aromatic plants. Professor Ghica was a project director and partner responsible for a number of national and international projects. She has an H-index of 11.

Professor Dinu-Pîrvu Cristina-Elena received her PhD in Pharmacy in 2004. She is a professor at the Department of Physical and Colloidal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, "Carol Davila" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania. She holds a master's degree in Biotechnologies in Environmental Safety at the Faculty of Biotechnologies from the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest. She is a PhD supervisor (Habilitation

thesis, 2015) and vice-dean responsible for scientific activity. She has more than 25 years of experience in the design, development, physicochemical investigation, and quality control of pharmaceutical dosage forms; multiparticulates and micro-/nanoencapsulates; and potential valorization of medicinal/aromatic plants from spontaneous flora. Professor Cristina-Elena is a project director and partner responsible for a number of national projects. She obtained a postdoctoral fellowship within the Postdoctoral School of National Interest "Applied Biotechnologies" with impact on the Romanian Bio-economy at the Politehnica University of Bucharest, Romania. She has an H-index of 11.

**Preface III**

**Chapter 1 1** Introductory Chapter: Hydrogels - From First Natural Hydrocolloids to Smart

**Chapter 2 7**

**Chapter 3 31**

**Chapter 4 59**

**Chapter 5 99** HyStem®: A Unique Clinical Grade Hydrogel for Present and Future Medical

*by Lăcrămioara Popa, Mihaela Violeta Ghica and Cristina Elena Dinu-Pîrvu*

Stimuli-Responsive Hydrogels: An Interdisciplinary Overview

Investigating the Structure-Related Properties of Cellulose-Based

Hydrogels Based on Chitosan and Chitosan Derivatives for Biomedical

*by Kessily B. Rufato, Juliana P. Galdino, Kamila S. Ody, Antonio G.B. Pereira,* 

*by Christian Demitri, Marta Madaghiele, Maria Grazia Raucci,* 

*Elisangela Corradini, Alessandro F. Martins, Alexandre T. Paulino, André R. Fajardo, Fauze A. Aouada, Felipe A. La Porta, Adley F. Rubira* 

*by Sudipta Chatterjee and Patrick Chi-leung Hui*

*by Thomas I. Zarembinski and Aleksander Skardal*

Biomaterials

Contents

Applications

Applications

*and Edvani C. Muniz*

Superabsorbent Hydrogels

*Alessandro Sannino and Luigi Ambrosio*
