Biomaterials Insight
There’s a neat set of articles in this week’s issue of Nature on biomaterials. From the editorial:
Biomaterials research has come of age. Since antiquity, humans have been taking whatever substances are at hand — natural materials, glass, metals or polymers — and using them to replace body parts that have been damaged by disease or injury. But it is only recently, with the advent of molecular biology, that the field has become interdisciplinary, enabling materials scientists to design materials that impart a specific biological function. The field of biomaterials is also broadening as we improve our understanding of how the physical sciences can help to explain biology and indeed of how biological principles, mechanisms and molecules can be applied in the design of materials for non-biological applications.
The articles (which unfortunately require subscription but I can send them along to individuals who don’t have access) are interesting reviews on different aspects of biomaterials research—
- Inspiration and application in the evolution of biomaterials
- Designing materials to direct stem-cell fate
- Biomaterial systems for mechanosensing and actuation
- Materials engineering for immunomodulation
- Drivers of biodiagnostic development
There’s a lot of really fascinating stuff going on in the field of biologically inspired engineering, notably at Harvard’s Wyss Institute. It’s an excellent counterpoint and partner to synthetic biology and something I’m increasingly interested in.
