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Importance of the field-Although significant progress has been made in delivering therapeutic agents through micro and nanocarriers, precise control over in vivo biodistribution and diseaseresponsive drug release has been difficult to achieve. This is critical for the success of next generation drug delivery devices, since newer drugs, designed to interfere with cellular functions, must be efficiently and specifically delivered to diseased cells. The major constraint in achieving this has been our limited repertoire of particle synthesis methods, especially at the nanoscale. Recent developments in generating shape-specific nanocarriers and the potential to combine stimuliresponsive release with nanoscale delivery devices show great promise in overcoming these limitations.Areas covered in this review-Here we discuss how recent advancements in fabrication technology allow synthesis of highly monodisperse, stimuli-responsive, drug-carrying nanoparticles of precise geometries. We also review how particle properties, specifically shape and stimuli responsiveness, affect biodistribution, cellular uptake, and drug release.What the reader will gain-The reader is introduced to recent developments in intelligent drug nanocarriers and new nanofabrication approaches that can be combined with disease-responsive biomaterials. This will provide insight into the importance of controlling particle geometry and incorporating stimuli responsive materials into drug delivery.

The evolution of material design has mirrored advancements in the understanding of materials, nature, and the requirements of target applications. Originally, materials were only intended to play a passive role, but with a deepened understanding of material properties and design has come an improved ability to harness these properties to create materials with predetermined response mechanisms. This article has three aims: i) to briefly discuss the origin of and motivation for having materials that are capable of undergoing healing either extrinsically or intrinsically; ii) to present the most recent and promising advancements in the field of self‐healing materials; and iii) to discuss important material design and property specifications that should be considered in order to promote the development of optimized self‐healing materials.

As part of an ongoing effort to develop biocompatible, biodegradable conducting polymers, we report here the synthesis and characterization of a novel copolymer, 5,5"'bishydroxymethyl-3,3"'-dimethyl-2,2':5',2":5",2"'-quaterthiophene-co-adipic acid polyester (QAPE). This system was designed so as to incorporate alternating electroactive quaterthiophene units and biodegradable ester units into one macromolecular framework, while allowing for facile preparation of the polymer via a polycondensation reaction. In agreement with the design expectations, the ester groups were found to be incorporated into the polymer between the quaterthiophene subunits, as inferred from standard chemical and spectroscopic analyses. QAPE exhibited redox activity as detected by cyclic voltammetry and a new red-shifted absorption peak upon doping, providing support for the notion that the quaterthiophene units maintain electroactivity after incorporation into the QAPE polymer framework. The degradation, likely through surface erosion, of this polymer in the presence of cholesterol esterase was confirmed by the detection of a fluorescence signal at wavelengths corresponding to the quaterthiophene subunit and comparisons to appropriate controls. In vitro cytocompatability studies, carried out over 48 h, indicate that the QAPE polymer is nontoxic to Schwann cells.