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The tissue microenvironment is structurally and dynamically complex. Materials designed to interact with diseased or compromised tissue to induce regeneration, or to act as a scaffold for the production of tissues in the laboratory, thus need to be responsive to the microenvironment. For this, researchers leverage increased knowledge of the importance of the spatiotemporal integration of biomaterials with the tissue environment, as well as latest developments in high-resolution technologies in imaging and in materials synthesis and fabrication. Dynamically responsive materials for use in tissue engineering respond to external stimuli or have inherent properties that trigger the targeted, timed release of integral chemical constituents or of incorporated ligands for the controlled repair or remodelling of surrounding tissue. This collection highlights recent impactful advances, published in Nature-branded journals, in such dynamic biomaterials.
A supramolecular polymer that is stable in the acidic environment of the stomach but dissolves in the neutral-pH environment of the intestines prolongs the safe retention of gastric devices.
Microgel particle precursors bearing peptide substrates for human enzymes crosslink in wound sites to produce bioactive scaffolds in situ that rapidly recruit cells and promote dermal healing.
Stem cells alter their morphology and differentiate to particular lineages in response to biophysical cues from the surrounding matrix. When the matrix is degradable, however, cell fate is morphology-independent and is directed by the traction forces that the cells actively apply after they have degraded the matrix.
Advances in photochemistry have profoundly impacted the way in which biology is studied. Now, a photoactivated enzymatic patterning method that offers spatiotemporal control over the presentation of bioactive proteins to direct cells in three-dimensional culture significantly expands the available chemical toolbox.