(248c) Self-Assembled Nanostructures for Biomedical Applications

Biomimetic strategy has been widely studied to build advanced biological materials for tissue engineering and related biomedical applications. Such strategy usually includes two aspects: structure and process. As many have recognized, natural tissues in a biological system are not simplex. Structurally, they are composed of highly-ordered hierarchical units (down to nanometer scale). In biological process, basic units self-assemble to form functional tissue structures. Therefore, to better mimic natural tissues for improved biological functions, self-assembled nanostructures are developed nowadays.

With the ordered self-assembly processes to generate bio-functional structures, these nanomaterials have unique advantages in biological uses. For example, they can form biomimetic scaffolds under physiological conditions for tissue engineering. Moreover, self-assembly of molecules often leads to an increase of viscosity or solidification of such materials. Therefore, they are suitable for injection applications in tissue healing. Additionally, drugs can be encapsulated with self-assembly of materials, so they are excellent candidates for controlled drug delivery. Here, we will review a variety of self-assembled nanomaterials including inorganic materials, polymers and most recently investigated biological-inspired molecules (like self-assembled peptides and rosette nanotubes based on DNA structure). Especially, their properties and applications in biomedical field will be demonstrated and discussed.