High-Throughput Screening for the Production of Biomaterials: A New Tool for the Study of the Interactions Between Materials and Biological Species

High-throughput screening (HTS) and combinatorial chemistry (CombiChem) methodologies refer to the fully automated, parallel synthesis and characterization of libraries of materials in a time- and cost-effective manner. Herein, we discuss the key principles of HTS, including the production tools and characterization techniques involved in the generation of different biologically relevant materials, ranging from polymer libraries to sol-gel derived hybrid materials. We describe applications of such libraries in the biomedical field as determined by the different properties of such biomaterials, and relate this to the importance of the interface between those materials and biological entities as a key element that controls the performance of the materials in specific applications.