Supramolecular biomaterials

This Review discusses the properties and applications of supramolecular biomaterials for drug delivery, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine and immunology. Polymers, ceramics and metals have historically dominated the application of materials in medicine. Yet rationally designed materials that...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature materials 2016-01, Vol.15 (1), p.13-26
Main Authors: Webber, Matthew J., Appel, Eric A., Meijer, E. W., Langer, Robert
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
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Allergy and Immunology
Animals
Biological
Biological properties
Biomaterials
Biomedical materials
Biomimetic Materials - chemistry
Cancer
Ceramics
Condensed Matter Physics
Drug Delivery Systems
Humans
Immunology
Macromolecular Substances
Materials Science
Nanotechnology
Optical and Electronic Materials
Platforms
Polymers
Quality of life
Regenerative Medicine
review-article
Surgical implants
Tissue Engineering
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Summary:This Review discusses the properties and applications of supramolecular biomaterials for drug delivery, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine and immunology. Polymers, ceramics and metals have historically dominated the application of materials in medicine. Yet rationally designed materials that exploit specific, directional, tunable and reversible non-covalent interactions offer unprecedented advantages: they enable modular and generalizable platforms with tunable mechanical, chemical and biological properties. Indeed, the reversible nature of supramolecular interactions gives rise to biomaterials that can sense and respond to physiological cues, or that mimic the structural and functional aspects of biological signalling. In this Review, we discuss the properties of several supramolecular biomaterials, as well as their applications in drug delivery, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine and immunology. We envision that supramolecular biomaterials will contribute to the development of new therapies that combine highly functional materials with unmatched patient- and application-specific tailoring of both material and biological properties.
ISSN:1476-1122
1476-4660
DOI:10.1038/nmat4474