Biopolymers Tailored For Intelligent Scaffolding and Drug Delivery

Functional biomaterials able to sense and respond to biotic and abiotic stimuli are currently clustered in the category of smart materials. Polymers represent the most investigated class of materials able to change different morphological, functional, architectural and biological properties as a feedback to an external inducing element. Although very useful in most industrial, biotechnological and ecological approaches, biopolymers bring important and intriguing impact in medicine. Numerous applications, ranging from tissue engineering to drug delivery have been recently emerged as a result of the technological progress made in the field of polymer engineering. Most interesting approaches refer to the development of intelligent targeting approaches and the design of tailored biopolymeric scaffolds utilized in therapy. The purpose of this review paper is to bring together and discuss the most recent knowledge regarding applications of smart biopolymers in biomedical scaffolding and drug delivery. Current progress made on the field of tissue engineering, cancer therapy and alternative antimicrobial approaches are highlighted.