title: Combinatorial design of biomaterials for drug delivery: opportunities and challenges.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The rational design of biodegradable polymeric devices for controlled drug delivery and tissue engineering is an important area of research for advancing new therapies for cancer, diabetes and immune-related disorders. In an era of escalating costs for discovery-based research, there is an urgent need to develop new and rapid methods to design drug delivery systems.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  By merging this field of study with rapid and high throughput methods of design, optimization and development, researchers have been able to accelerate the discovery and design processes for these devices. Combinatorial research enables the rapid identification of key regions of interest.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This review focuses on the opportunities and challenges in the area of combinatorial biomaterials design for drug delivery, as there has been a great deal of significant progress over the past decade to propel this approach for the rational design of biomaterials.
authors: Iowa State University, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, 2035 Sweeney Hall, Ames, IA 50011-2230, USA.
authors: Latrisha K
authors: LK
authors: Petersen
authors: Balaji
authors: B
authors: Narasimhan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D020650:Combinatorial Chemistry Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D055808:Drug Discovery; D006801:Humans; D012107:Research Design
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials