POS8-0714
A Polymer Hydrogel Design Framework for Advanced Tissue Processing and Phenotyping
Topic
S8. Frontiers of Functional Polymers in Biology and Medicine
When and Where
Sep 30, 2026
08:30 - 09:30
Room 301 (Grand Ballroom)
Session Chairs
Heesuk KIM
Jinhye BAE
Presenter(s)
Sangjae Kim (Seoul National University)
Co-Author(s)
Abstract
Visualizing molecular and structural targets within intact biological specimens remains a major challenge in conventional histology, which relies on physical sectioning and often disrupts native three-dimensional tissue architecture. Tissue clearing strategies combined with polymer engineering have emerged as powerful approaches to overcome this limitation by tuning tissue physicochemical properties through the hybridization of synthetic polymers with biological tissues. Although several tissue-clearing hydrogel platforms have been developed over the past decade, the relationships among polymer design parameters, material properties, and downstream imaging performance remain poorly defined. Here, we propose a multidimensional design framework for high-performance tissue-clearing hydrogels that integrates chemorheological analysis, swelling behavior, porosity evolution, molecular probe transport, mechanical performance, and tolerance to thermochemical stressors. This framework highlights how the interplay among these parameters determines platform functionality and bioengineering workflow efficiency, providing a systematic basis for the development of next-generation tissue-clearing hydrogels, biomedical soft materials, and broader biomaterials platforms.
