The interdisciplinary field of biomaterials and tissue engineering has been one of the most dynamic and rapidly expanding disciplines during the past two decades. Polymeric biomaterials have many advantages because of their unique tailorability of chemical structures and physical properties, biodegradability, and feasibility of being fabricated into medical devices for applications in tissue replacements, drug delivery, cancer therapy, and nonviral gene therapy. Based on the robust knowledge of polymer science and engineering, numerous strategies have been applied to develop biomaterials with controllable physical properties for satisfying diverse clinical needs by tuning their structural parameters and morphologies at different length scales. Polymeric biomaterials can be incorporated with natural materials and inorganic nanoparticles to achieve novel, unique properties and better performance. Biomimetic and intelligent polymeric systems have also been investigated to advance our material design strategies.

Through controllable polymer properties, cell-material interactions such as cell adhesion, proliferation, migration, and differentiation can be modulated. Vesicles formed by amphiphilic polymers can be used as carriers for delivering drugs to desired targets. Polycations such as polyethylenimine can be used as nonviral gene delivery carriers. Polymer scaffolds with predesigned geometries and nanometer-scale or micron-scale structural parameters can be fabricated for diverse tissue engineering applications.

The aim of this annual special issue is to bring forth the synergy between material design strategies and biological evaluations through new and significant contributions from active researchers in the field. We invite authors to present original research articles as well as review articles that will stimulate the continuing efforts in developing novel polymeric systems for improving our fundamental understanding on cell/tissue-material interactions and biomedical applications. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Design, synthesis, and physicochemical characterizations of novel polymeric biomaterials
• Cell/tissue-material interactions and biological evaluations of novel polymeric biomaterials
• Fabrication of surface patterns and scaffolds using polymeric biomaterials
• Novel polymeric systems and self-assembled structures for drug delivery and nonviral gene therapy
• Theoretical modeling of polymeric biomaterials and related biological functions

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