Living Cell-Mediated Self-Assembly: From Monomer Design and Morphology Regulation to Biomedical Applications

The self-assembly of molecules into highly ordered architectures is a ubiquitous and natural process, wherein molecules spontaneously organize into large structures to perform diverse functions. Drawing inspiration from the formation of natural nanostructures, cell-mediated self-assembly has been developed to create functional assemblies both inside and outside living cells. These techniques have been employed to regulate the cellular world by leveraging the dynamic intracellular and extracellular microenvironment. This review highlights the recent advances and future trends in living cell-mediated self-assembly, ranging from their cytocompatible monomer designs, synthetic strategies, and morphological control to functional applications. The assembly behaviors are also discussed based on the dimensionality of the self-assembled morphologies from zero to three dimensions. Finally, this review explores its promising potential for biomedical applications, clarifying the relationship between initial morphological regulation and the therapeutic effects of subsequent artificial assemblies. Through rationally designing molecular structures and precisely controlling assembly morphologies, living cell mediated self-assembly would provide an innovative platform for executing biological functions.