Suzhou Laboratory Research Featured on the Cover of Nature

Recently, Dr. Wei Li from Suzhou Laboratory (as a corresponding author), in collaboration with Hokkaido University in Japan and other institutions, reported groundbreaking research on the rational design of functional polymer hydrogels. The study, entitled “Data-Driven De Novo Design of Super-Adhesive Hydrogels”, was published online on August 6th as a cover article in Nature.

Hydrogels, known for their tunable mechanical properties and excellent biocompatibility, hold great promise for applications in renewable energy, flexible electronics, and marine engineering. However, their rational design has long faced two major challenges: (1) the enormous combinatorial space of monomer compositions and polymer structures makes traditional trial-and-error approaches highly inefficient; and (2) material performance is governed by multiscale structures, making it difficult for existing theoretical models to accurately predict complex structure–property relationships.

To address these challenges, the team proposed a research framework integrating data mining, high-throughput experimentation and machine learning. Focusing on enhancing underwater adhesion, they first employed a de novo design strategy based on functional amino acid encoding, extracting critical sequence features from adhesive proteins. These were translated into bioinspired polymers through ideal copolymerization, achieving knowledge transfer from natural sequences to synthetic materials. Next, a modified sequential model-based optimization was introduced to refine the bioinspired hydrogel samples, ultimately leading to the development of a record-breaking super-adhesive hydrogel with underwater adhesion strength reaching 1 MPa.

This study demonstrates the power of integrating artificial intelligence with materials research, overcoming a long-standing challenge in the rational design of polymer hydrogels. It represents a significant advance in underwater adhesive materials and opens new pathways for the intelligent design of functional polymer systems.

Article link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09269-4