Lifelike Transformative Materials for Biohybrid Implants: Inspired by Nature, Driven by Technology

Abstract

Today's living world is enriched with a myriad of natural biological designs, shaped by billions of years of evolution. Unraveling the construction rules of living organisms offers the potential to create new materials and systems for biomedicine. From the close examination of living organisms, several concepts emerge: hierarchy, pattern repetition, adaptation, and irreducible complexity. All these aspects must be tackled to develop transformative materials with lifelike behavior. This perspective article highlights recent progress in the development of transformative biohybrid systems for applications in the fields of tissue regeneration and biomedicine. Advances in computational simulations and data‐driven predictions are also discussed. These tools enable the virtual high‐throughput screening of implant design and performance before committing to fabrication, thus reducing the development time and cost of biomimetic and biohybrid constructs. The ongoing progress of imaging methods also constitutes an essential part of this matter in order to validate the computation models and enable longitudinal monitoring. Finally, the current challenges of lifelike biohybrid materials, including reproducibility, ethical considerations, and translation, are discussed. Advances in the development of lifelike materials will open new biomedical horizons, where perhaps what is currently envisioned as science fiction will become a science‐driven reality in the future.

Biohybrid neural interfaces: improving the biological integration of neural implants

“…These techniques could not only be used to monitor the development of biohybrid implants in situ, but also to assess the degree of biointegration and FBR without the need for implant retrieval. 193,194 To achieve this, our group and others have focused on the development of advanced biomaterials for soft bioelectronics that are compatible with clinical imaging techniques such as MRI. Alternatively, emerging neuroimaging techniques based on functional ultrasound have been shown to enable large-scale and high-resolution neural imaging in human patients.…”

“…Regulatory agencies have already begun to establish specific guidelines for combination products containing two or more regulated components from different categories. 193 Moreover, the standardisation of criteria from different international agencies is crucial to ensure that clear regulatory pathways are in place.…”