Making it stick: the role of structural design in implantable technologies

Abstract

Designing technologies that work within the human body requires innovation at the interface of biology, engineering, and material sciences. The human body presents a surprisingly hostile environment towards technologies designed to improve health, and recent approaches to these problems have leveraged the links between material form and function to improve implantable systems. The use of physical structure has emerged as a key design parameter in developing these systems, and has recently been applied to make significant progress in the field. Here, we highlight recent studies that demonstrate the innovative use of structure in the design of technologies meant to operate within the human body, with a specific focus on improving their biointegration, delivery, and functionality.