Bioinspired materials for regenerative medicine: going beyond the human archetypes

Abstract

The evolution of life has given rise to innumerable biomaterials with high levels of functional sophistication and performance among many thousands of different environments. The inexhaustible range of strategies and the intrinsic good design they possess can be readily included in the design of biomedical devices and materials, such as wound healing bandages and antibacterial surface coating implants. We highlight topical examples where various ingenious design strategies from biological models, originating more broadly from zoology and botany, have been appropriated into novel synthetic materials and structures for regenerative and material-based tissue engineering. Bioinspired materials engineering informed and enriched by the vast array of adaptations and strategies in nature, beyond human biology, will be instrumental in the future evolution of new more clinically acceptable pan-functional materials and structures with a broad range of uses in the regenerative sciences.