REVIEW article
Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.
Sec. Biomaterials
This article is part of the Research TopicBiomimetic Scaffold Materials for Engineering of in-vitro Tissue/Organ Models and in-vivo Tissue RepairView all 5 articles
Emerging Biomimetic Biopolymer-based Composites: Advancing Accessible and Sustainable Neural Disease Models and Therapeutics
Provisionally accepted
Daniela Duc*
Jacob PattemBenjamin GambrillPolina ProkopovichAybike KocaturkmenMatthew ChurchAmber MaysAkash BediEmmanuel Brousseau
Oommen Podiyan Oommen- Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
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Neurological diseases are leading causes of death globally and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) globally. Because of this, urgency in providing technologies and essential medicines to tackle this issue is currently recognized as key in reversing this trend. Global health strategies have recognized tissue engineering as a pillar element in progressing both neurological disease research and therapy discovery. Over time, various biomaterials have been developed with a few barriers appearing along the way when considering translation for routine neurological disorders research and therapy. These barriers include accessibility, sustainability, cost-effectiveness and affordability. In this review, we discuss how biopolymers, namely biomimetic advanced biopolymers composites have emerged to answer this issue. We will explore various types of biomimetic nanocellulose-based, self-assembling peptides, glycosaminoglycan composite, advanced functionalized nanoparticles amongst others are used to create a range of innovative state-of -the-art neuronal models that can be employed for neuronal disease investigation and therapy. Finally, we will review the current factors enabling and hindering their translation and scalability (e.g. manufacturing, characterization and commercialization) and provide a Research and Development Roadmap that can be explored to facilitate their development and provision to answer the pressing global need for these technologies in positively impacting neurological disorders.
Keywords: accessibility, Biomimetic biopolymer composites, Neural models, Neural tissue engineering, sustainability, Therapeutics
Received: 07 Oct 2025; Accepted: 17 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Duc, Pattem, Gambrill, Prokopovich, Kocaturkmen, Church, Mays, Bedi, Brousseau and Oommen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Daniela Duc
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.