Hydrogel-based Bioelectronics for Precision Delivery

Objective

By 2050, the burden of diseases such as cancer, diabetes and neurodegenerative disorders will rise sharply. Systemic administration dominates care yet offers poor spatiotemporal control and adherence, causing dose-limiting toxicity and severe side effects (e.g., >50% chemotherapy toxicity; 50% non-adherence; 200,000 adverse drug reaction deaths annually in Europe). This demands safe, controllable, patient-tailored delivery. HYTRONICS will revolutionise drug delivery with intelligent bioelectronic hydrogels enabling localised, on-demand, signal-triggered release, addressing limits of systemic/oral dosing (low bioavailability, enzymatic degradation) and hypodermic injection (pain, invasiveness, waste). Built from self-assembling Pluronic block copolymers, they will integrate conductivity into tissue-like structures, translating electrical cues into controllable drug release and leveraging thermoresponsive morphologies for spatiotemporal precision. Two first-in-class systems will be built: INJECTRON, an injectable hydrogel forming an in situ depot at 37 °C for localised therapy, and FLEXTRON, a UV-crosslinked hydrogel engineered into microneedle patches for painless, user-friendly delivery. Both will be coupled with glucose fuel cells, harvesting energy from body fluids for self-powered, battery-free delivery. The fellowship will design, synthesise and validate these materials, advancing the state of the art. By integrating expertise in materials science, bioelectronics and biomedical engineering, HYTRONICS will deliver proof-of-concept prototypes for safe, electrically controlled, closed-loop therapies. For the researcher, the fellowship will serve as a springboard to independence, providing training in bioelectronics, translational science and innovation management, while consolidating a profile ready to lead interdisciplinary projects. For Europe, HYTRONICS will reinforce leadership in biomaterials and MedTech, benefiting patients, healthcare systems and industry.