Interplay of biomaterials and micro-scale technologies for advancing biomedical applications

Micro-scale technologies have already dramatically changed our society through their use in the microelectronics and telecommunications industries. Today these engineering tools are also useful for many biological applications ranging from drug delivery to DNA sequencing, since they can be used to fabricate small features at a low cost and in a reproducible manner. The discovery and development of new biomaterials aid in the advancement of these micro-scale technologies, which in turn contribute to the engineering and generation of new, custom-designed biomaterials with desired properties. This review aims to present an overview of the merger of micro-scale technologies and biomaterials in two-dimensional (2D) surface patterning, device fabrication and three-dimensional (3D) tissue-engineering applications.