Bio– and Bioinspired Nanomaterials

Nowadays, nanotechnology is emerging as the latest revolutionary development, expected to profoundly affect how novel materials, capable of delivering solutions that are cost–efficient, environmentally safe, and affording improved technical performance, are designed and manufactured. Bio– and bioinspired nanomaterials represent a unique class of materials whose exceptional size–dependent properties open up new possibilities for advanced biomedical and technological applications. Indeed, the study of nanostructures found in many different animals, plants and other biological systems have shown us ways to develop new materials for energy production, superhydrophobics, adhesives, biosensors, and materials with improved physical and chemical resistance. This comprehensive overview of bionanomaterials includes some of the latest breakthrough research, with valuable contributions from top–level scientists illustrating how bionanomaterials could lead to novel devices or structures with unique properties. The first and second part cover the most relevant synthetic and bioinspired nanomaterials, including surfaces with extreme wettability properties, functional materials with improved adhesion or structural and functional systems based on the complex and hierarchical organization of natural composites. These lessons from nature are explored in the last section where bioinspired materials are proposed for biomedical applications, showing their potential for future applications in drug delivery, theragnosis, and regenerative medicine. A navigational guide aimed at advanced and specialist readers, while equally relevant for readers in research, academia or private companies focused on high added–value contributions. Young researchers will also find this an indispensable guide in choosing or continuing to work in this stimulating area, which involves a wide range of disciplines, including chemistry, physics, materials science and engineering, biology, and medicine.

PART I: BIONANOMATERIALS # 01 Synthesis of colloidal gold and silver nanoparticles and their properties # 02 Ceramic Smart Drug Delivery Nanomaterials # 03 Polymersomes and their biological implications # 04 MOFs in Pharmaceutical Technology # 05 Amorphous Coordination Polymer Particles for Biomedicine # 06 Magnetic Nanoparticles for Magnetic Hyperthermia and Controlled Drug Delivery # 07 Photothermal Effect of Gold Nanostructures for Application in Bioimaging and Therapy # 08 Nanomaterial–Based Bioimaging Probes # 09 Molecular bases of nanotoxicology PART II: BIO–INSPIRED MATERIALS – BIO–INSPIRED MATERIALS FOR TECNOLOGICAL APPLICATION # 10 Bio–Inspired Interfaces for Self–Cleaning Technologies # 11 Catechol–Based Biomimetic Functional Materials and their applications # 12 Current Approaches to Designing Nanomaterials Inspired by Mussel Adhesive Proteins PART III: BIO–INSPIRED MATERIALS – BIO–INSPIRED MATERIALS FOR BIOMEDICAL APPLICATION # 13 Functional Gradients in Biological Composites # 14 Novel Bio–inspired Phospholipid Polymer Biomaterials for Nanobioengineering # 15 Bioinspired functionalized nanoparticles as tools for detection, quantification and targeting of biomolecules. # 16 Engineering Protein Based Nanoparticles for Applications in Tissue Engineering

Daniel Ruiz–Molina is Senior Researcher at the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (CSIC), Spain, where he heads the nanostructured functional materials group at the Institut Català de Nanociència I Nanotecnologia. After gaining his PhD from CSIC, he carried out a three–year postdoctoral stay at the University of California, San Diego, USA, working on single–molecule magnets and molecular switches. Since then, his work has focused on the development of advanced nanostructured functional materials of a (bio–/bioinspired) molecular nature. Fernando Novio is a researcher at the Institut Català de Nanociència I Nanotecnologia (ICN2) in Barcelona, Spain, in the group led by Prof. Ruiz–Molina. He received his PhD in chemistry from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, and afterwards did two years of post–doctorate study at the Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination of the Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse, France. Since joining ICN2 in 2011 he has initiated different research approaches based on the technological and biomedical application of nanostructures based on coordination polymers. Claudio Roscini is a researcher in Prof. Ruiz–Molina′s group at the Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (ICN2) in Barcelona, Spain. He gained his PhD from the University of Bristol, UK, before spending two years as a post–doc at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. He was also a project manager at the Technology Institute Fundación Privada ASCAMM in Barcelona. He joined ICN2 in 2013 where he is involved in the optimization of micro and nanoencapsulation processes on the small and large scale, and in the development of new nanostructured materials with photo and thermochromic properties.