Synergizing AIE Luminogens and hydrogel matrices: Advancing precision medicine through smart material design

The integration of aggregation-induced emission (AIE) luminogens (AIEgens) with hydrogel materials has significantly expanded their applications in precision medicine, fostering groundbreaking innovations in biomedicine. AIEgens exhibit exceptional photostability, a high signal-to-noise ratio, and stimuli-responsive properties making them uniquely suited for constructing theranostic platforms for image-guided diagnosis and therapy. Meanwhile, hydrogels provide an ideal matrix for precision diagnostics and therapeutics due to their outstanding biocompatibility, tunable physicochemical properties, and capacity to serve as carriers for drugs and molecular probes. Given the immense potential of AIEgen-hydrogel composite systems in precision medicine, this review systematically summarizes recent advances in their applications, including cancer-targeted therapy, biofluorescent probes, antibacterial treatment, biomimetic cell culture, biomarker detection, and drug delivery/release monitoring. Furthermore, we critically analyze the key challenges hindering their widespread adoption and discuss future research directions. Together, AIEgen-integrated hydrogel systems represent a transformative approach in precision medicine, driving significant progress through their versatile biomedical functionalities.