Biomaterials are crucial components of many health care products. They are in the news daily as we hear of new devices that allow deaf people to hear, and of techniques to return patients to a near normal life after a heart attack. Headlines tell us of titanium dental implants, ceramic artificial hips, carbon heart valves, collagen cosmetic injections and clear plastic lenses in the eye. Science magazines talk of new drug–biomaterial combinations that are radically altering cancer chemotherapy and immunotherapy and of nanoscale contrast agents that give far more power to MRI and CT imaging systems for better and earlier disease diagnosis. Biomaterials save lives and improve the quality of life for millions of people.

The science that underpins these advances is, not surprisingly, called biomaterials science. It has grown and developed from tentative beginnings half a century ago into a major academic and clinical discipline today. This science is both multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary since it brings together many classical disciplines of science, engineering and medicine, but also adds new knowledge that fits within the gaps between the classical subjects.