The invention provides a novel approach to hydrogels with predictable degradation/gelling kinetics, which is useful for many biomedical applications where appropriate gelling kinetics and the timely disintegration of the hydrogel (e.g., drug delivery, guided tissue regeneration) is required. Precisely controlling hydrogel degradation over a broad range in a predictable manner is achieved via a simple but versatile hydrogel platform that allows formulation of hydrogels with predictable disintegration time from within 2 days to >250 days yet comparable macroscopic physical properties.
