The engineering of biomaterials exhibiting recognition and specificity.

Although synthetic materials are now widely used in implanted medical devices, they are not engineered for recognition and specificity. This article considers the design of polymer surfaces that might be specifically recognized and trigger normal healing pathways. The technological advances that will contribute to biorecognition biomaterials include surfaces to inhibit non-specific interactions, self-assembly to create ordered surface structures and strategies to place recognition sites on surfaces by random arrays of groups and by templates.