Themed collection 29th Annual Conference of the European Society for Biomaterials

Guest editors Pamela Habibovic, Sandra Hofmann and Jeroen van den Beucken introduce this themed collection on behalf of the European Society for Biomaterials, showcasing research presented at the 29th Annual Meeting of the European Society for Biomaterials, Maastricht, 2018.

Meta-biomaterials are designer biomaterials with unusual and even unprecedented properties that primarily originate from their geometrical designs at different (usually smaller) length scales.

Synthetic multifunctional assembling peptides were designed to mimic the structure of collagen and allow independent control of hydrogel mechanical and biochemical properties through covalent crosslinking, enabling long-term in vitro 3D cell culture.

Zein-polydopamine nanoparticles functionalized with G23 peptide cross an in vitro blood–brain barrier and penetrate tumor spheroids. When loaded with curcumin they effectively reduce proliferation, migration, and viability of C6 glioma cells.

We report that 3-D printed scaffold channel size can direct bone marrow derived stem cell differentiation, e.g. ∼200–250 μm channels promote hyaline-like cartilage matrix production.

Macrophages play a governing role in material-driven tissue regeneration. Here we show that the paracrine signals of macrophages to direct tissue regeneration and scaffold degradation are dependent on hemodynamic loads.

Here we show that 3D silk scaffolds loaded with nicotinic acid have great potential for tissue engineering due to their excellent cytocompatibility and ability to decrease the expression of proinflammatory markers in a concentration dependent manner.

Supramolecular fibers fabricated by co-axial electrospinning combine load-bearing properties and sustained drug release of hydrophobic and UPy-modified drugs.

Layer by layer (LBL) assembly garnered considerable interest due to its ability to generate multifunctional films with high tunability and versatility in terms of substrates and polyelectrolytes, allowing the option to use complex devices and drugs.

Control in ROP allows polymers to be synthesized with a wide range of architectures and self-assembly properties.