Embracing complexity in biomaterials design

Helena S Azevedo; Alvaro Mata

doi:10.1016/j.bbiosy.2022.100039

Embracing complexity in biomaterials design

Biomater Biosyst. 2022 Feb 7:6:100039. doi: 10.1016/j.bbiosy.2022.100039. eCollection 2022 Jun.

Authors

Helena S Azevedo^{1

2}, Alvaro Mata^{3

4

5}

Affiliations

¹ School of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 4NS UK.
² Institute of Bioengineering, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 4NS, UK.
³ Department of Chemical & Environmental Engineering, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK.
⁴ School of Pharmacy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK.
⁵ Biodiscovery Institute, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK.

Abstract

Animate materials, man-made materials behaving like living systems, are attracting enormous interest across a range of sectors, from construction and transport industry to medicine. In this leading opinion article, we propose that embracing complexity in biomaterials design offers untapped opportunities to create biomaterials with innovative life-like properties that extend their capabilities and unleash new paradigms in medical treatment.

Keywords: Biomaterials; Complexity; Human biology; Order/disorder; Reproducibility; Variability.