Disease, trauma, and aging account for a significant number of clinical disorders. Regenerative medicine is emerging as a very promising therapeutic option. The design and development of new cell-customised biomaterials able to mimic extracellular matrix (ECM) functionalities represents one of the major strategies to control the cell fate and stimulate tissue regeneration. Recently, hydrogels have received a considerable interest for their use in the modulation and control of cell fate during the regeneration processes. Several synthetic bioresponsive hydrogels are being developed in order to facilitate cell-matrix and cell-cell interactions. In this review, new strategies and future perspectives of such synthetic cell microenvironments will be highlighted.
Keywords: bioconjugation; hydrogels; tissue engineering.