The symposium will provide a platform for discussing current advancements and future trends in hydrogels for biomedical applications, with special focus on safety ad sterilization effects. Its scope encompasses insights into fundamental and applied research activities on the hydrogel synthesis, physical and chemical characterization, spectroscopy, properties, microbiology safety and formulations for applications in various areas such as pharmaceutics, tissue engineering, restorative medicine, controlled drug delivery, medical imaging, etc.
Turning the extraordinary advances of biomaterial science into actual products is a very challenging process. One off the major challenges faced by the manufacturers of biomedical materials is the sterilization procedure. Sterilizing soft biomaterials, such as hydrogels, is particularly challenging for biomedical industry, due to their well-known sensitive to most conventional methods. The effect of sterilization methods becomes even more critical when considering drug delivery systems. Along with the biomaterial integrity, factors such as drug degradation and changes in the release profile must be taken into account. Therefore, the effects of different sterilization processes and the microbiologic safety of these new generation complex materials will be of special interest during this symposium.
The main aim is to provide a rich multidisciplinary discussion, involving physics, chemistry, biology and materials science underpinning hydrogel-based biomaterials research, hoping to contribute to the development of safe high-quality health care products.

• Ana Paula Serro
  (Centro de Investigação Interdisciplinar Egas Moniz, Instituto Superior de Ciências da Saúde Egas Moniz) [Confirmed]
• Anuj Chauhan
  (Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida) [To be confirmed]
• Carolina F. Rediguieri
  (Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária - ANVISA ) [Confirmed]
• Irene Satiko Kikuchi
  (Departamento de Farmácia, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas - Universidade de São Paulo) [Confirmed]
• Kamal Dua
  (Discipline of Pharmacy, Graduate School of Health, University of Technology Sydney) [To be confirmed]
• Maria José A. Oliveira
  ( Laboratório de Biomateriais-CQMA - Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares) [Confirmed]

• Terezinha de Jesus Andreoli Pinto (Departamento de Farmácia, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas - Universidade de São Paulo)
• Marina Souza Braga (Departamento de Farmácia, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas - Universidade de São Paulo)
• Daniela Dal Molim Ghisleni (Laboratório CONFAR e Departamento de Farmácia, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas - Universidade de São Paulo)
• Raquel Galante (Centro de Química Estrutural, Instituto Superior Técnico - Universidade de Lisboa)