Design of polymeric biomaterials at multiscale

Polymeric biomaterials are widely used for scaffold design since, if correctly designed, they could recapitulate the main parameters of the cell microenvironment to promote the regeneration of lost or damaged tissues. The design should consider the need to provide appropriate biophysical and mechanical properties, as well as biochemical signals, to elicit a specific cellular activity. This chapter gives an overview of how a multiscale design of polymeric biomaterials is fundamental to triggering a specific cell behavior to regenerate target tissues. At the molecular scale, polymers are functionalized and chemically modified, which should interact with the macrostructure (i.e., scaffold architecture) to elicit a specific biological response.