Recent Advances in Smart Self‐Assembled Bioinspired Hydrogels: A Bridging Weapon for Emerging Health Care Applications from Bench to Bedside

Abstract

AbstractStimuli‐responsive low molecular weight hydrogel interventions for Biomedical challenges are a rapidly evolving paradigm in the bottom‐up approach recently. Peptide‐based self‐assembled nano biomaterials present safer alternatives to their non‐degradable counterparts as demanded for today’s most urged clinical needs.Although a plethora of work has already been accomplished, programming hydrogelators with appropriate functionalities requires a better understanding as the impact of the macromolecular structure of the peptides and subsequently, their self‐assembled nanostructures remain unidentified. Henceforth this review focuses on two aspects: Firstly, the underlying guidelines for building biomimetic strategies to tailor scaffolds leading to hydrogelation along with the role of non‐covalent interactions that are the key components of various self‐assembly processes. In the second section, it is aimed to bring together the recent achievements with designer assembly concerning their self‐aggregation behaviour and applications mainly in the biomedical arena like drug delivery carrier design, antimicrobial, anti‐inflammatory as well as wound healing materials. Furthermore, it is anticipated that this article will provide a conceptual demonstration of the different approaches taken towards the construction of these task‐specific designer hydrogels. Finally, a collective effort among the material scientists is required to pave the path for the entrance of these intelligent materials into medicine from bench to bedside.