Following many reports that were published in the last two decades on correlations of multiphase structures of the surface of materials with their antithrombogenicity or biocompatibility a research project ''Design of Multiphase Biomedical Materials'' was carried out in Japan between 1982 and 1986. The objective of this research project was to elucidate various aspects of biomedical behaviour of multiphase systems at the interface with living bodies at the molecular, cellular and tissue levels. Multiphase materials studied cover polymers having microphase-separated structures, hydrogels, immobilized enzymes (or cells), ceramics and metallic materials. The research project was carried out by the following subgroups: -- Multiphase biomedical materials with microdomain structures -- Multiphase biomedical materials containing liquid components -- Hybrid-type multiphase biomedical materials with biological components -- Inorganic and metallic multiphase biomedical materials -- Methods for analysis and evaluation of multiphase biomedical materials This book contains the results of the research project in an edited form and aims to provoke a better understanding about various aspects of cell--material interactions in which the multiphase systems play a crucial role.

Following many reports that were published in the last two decades on correlations of multiphase structures of the surface of materials with their antithrombogenicity or biocompatibility a research project ''Design of Multiphase Biomedical Materials'' was carried out in Japan between 1982 and 1986. The objective of this research project was to elucidate various aspects of biomedical behaviour of multiphase systems at the interface with living bodies at the molecular, cellular and tissue levels. Multiphase materials studied cover polymers having microphase-separated structures, hydrogels, immobilized enzymes (or cells), ceramics and metallic materials. The research project was carried out by the following subgroups: -- Multiphase biomedical materials with microdomain structures -- Multiphase biomedical materials containing liquid components -- Hybrid-type multiphase biomedical materials with biological components -- Inorganic and metallic multiphase biomedical materials -- Methods for analysis and evaluation of multiphase biomedical materials This book contains the results of the research project in an edited form and aims to provoke a better understanding about various aspects of cell--material interactions in which the multiphase systems play a crucial role.

The articles collected in this publication have previously been published in eight special issues of the Journal of Biomaterials Science, Polymer Edition, in honour of Dr. Allan S. Hoffman, who is known as a pioneer, a leader and a mentor in the field of biomaterials. The papers from renowned scientists from all parts of the world, representing the

The journal Biomaterials was launched in 1980. The subject of biomaterials science was then in its infancy, being largely cofined to the study of the characteristics of materials used for medical devices.Twenty-five years on, we can truly say that biomaterials science has matured at an incredible rate and now represents a formidable sector that bridges the materials sciences, advanced medical therapies, and molecular and cell sciences.This Silver Jubilee Compendium consists of reprinted versions of the top 25 papers, published during these 25 years, as judged by an international panel of biomaterials scientists.This book is published as a landmark in biomaterials science and it is to be hoped that it will serve as a stimulus to young biomaterials scientists of the early twenty-first century for their pioneering work of the future.

The thesis presents an original and smart way to manipulate liquid and polymeric materials using a “pyro-fluidic platform” which exploits the pyro-electric effect activated onto a ferroelectric crystal. It describes a great variety of functionalities of the pyro-electrohydrodynamic platform, such as droplet self-assembling and dispensing, for manipulating multiphase liquids at the micro- and nanoscale. The thesis demonstrates the feasibility of non-contact self-assembling of liquids in plane (1D) using a micro engineered crystal, improving the dispensing capability and the smart transfer of material between two different planes (2D) and controlling and fabricating three-dimensional structures (3D). The thesis present the fabrication of highly integrated and automated ‘lab-on-a-chip’ systems based on microfluidics. The pyro-platform presented herein offers the great advantage of enabling the actuation of liquids in contact with a polar dielectric crystal through an electrode-less configuration. The simplicity and flexibility of the method for fabricating 3D polymer microstructures shows the great potential of the pyro-platform functionalities, exploitable in many fields, from optics to biosensing. In particular, this thesis reports the fabrication of optically active elements, such as nanodroplets, microlenses and microstructures, which have many potential applications in photonics. The capability for manipulating the samples of interest in a touch-less modality is very attractive for biological and chemical assays. Besides controlling cell growth and fate, smart micro-elements could deliver optical stimuli from and to cells monitoring their growth in real time, opening interesting perspectives for the realization of optically active scaffolds made of nanoengineered functional elements, thus paving the way to fascinating Optogenesis Studies.

Biomedical Materials and Diagnostics Devices provides an up-to-date overview of the fascinating and emerging field of biomedical materials and devices, fabrication, performance, and uses The biomedical materials with the most promising potential combine biocompatibility with the ability to adjust precisely the biological phenomena in a controlled manner. The world market for biomedical and diagnostic devices is expanding rapidly and the pace of academic research resulted in about 50,000 published papers in recent years. It is timely, therefore, to assemble a volume on this important subject. The chapters in the book seek to address progress in successful design strategies for biomedical materials and devices such as the use of collagen, crystalline calcium orthophosphates, amphiphilic polymers, polycaprolactone, biomimetic assembly, bio-nanocomposite matrices, bio-silica, theranostic nanobiomaterials, intelligent drug delivery systems, elastomeric nanobiomaterials, electrospun nano-matrices, metal nanoparticles, and a variety of biosensors. This large and comprehensive volume includes twenty chapters authored by some of the leading researchers in the field, and is divided into four main areas: biomedical materials; diagnostic devices; drug delivery and therapeutics; and tissue engineering and organ regeneration.

First of all, I would like to share the great pleasure of the successful five-day symposium with every participant in the 5th Iketani Conference which was held in Kagoshima from April1S (Tuesday) to 22 (Saturday), 1995. Outstanding speakers enthusiastically presented their up-to-the-minute results. Relatively little time was allotted for each presentation to ensure asdnuch time· as possible for intensive discussions on the particular topics that had just been p~esented: I was delighted to see that the lectures were of high quality, and the discu,ssionswere lively, exciting, and productive in a congenial atmosphere. We also had 92 papers in the poster ·session, in which young (and relatively young) scientists made every effort to present the novel results of their research in advanced biomaterials and drug delivery systems (DDS). I believe some of the research is most promising and will become noteworthy in the twenty-first century. It was a privilege for me to deliver a lecture at the special session of the symposium. In my introductory remarks, I pointed out five key terms in multifaceted biomaterials research: materials design, concept or methodology, devices, properties demanded, and fundamentals. I am confident that innovative progress in device manufacturing for end-use, e.g., artificial organs, vascular grafts, and DDS, can be brought about only through properly designed advanced materials that exhibit the desired functionality at the interface with any living body.