Polymers and nanomedicine: considerations on variability and reproducibility when combining complex systems.

Area of Science:

• Polymer Science
• Macromolecular Engineering
• Biomedical Applications

Background:

• Recent advances in controlled and living polymerization have significantly enhanced control over polymer structure.
• Polymers, despite advancements, possess inherent statistical nature leading to structural variability.
• Combining complex polymer systems with biological systems necessitates careful consideration of variability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To highlight the need for systematic variability analysis in polymer synthesis.
• To draw parallels between variability analysis in biological assays and polymer science.
• To emphasize the importance of this analysis for downstream applications like biological assays.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of hot topics in polymer science.
• Comparative analysis of variability scrutiny in biological assays versus polymer synthesis.
• Argumentative approach to advocate for systematic variability analysis.

Main Results:

• Increased control over polymerization techniques has been achieved.
• Polymers exhibit intrinsic structural variability due to their statistical nature.
• Biological assays undergo systematic scrutiny for reproducibility and variability.

Conclusions:

• Polymer synthesis requires systematic variability analysis, mirroring practices in biological assays.
• Understanding and quantifying polymer structural variability is critical for reliable downstream applications.
• This analysis is particularly important when integrating polymers into biological systems.