Biotechnology offers powerful solutions to the challenges that arise during the design and development of new complex biomimetic materials to achieve specific biological responses. Recombinant DNA technologies, in particular, provide unique solutions in the biomaterials field, especially regarding the control of macromolecular architectures involving protein sequences with the aim of addressing the multiple functional requirements needed for biomaterials' applications. Here, elastin-like recombinamers are presented as an example of an extraordinary convergence of different properties that is not found in any other polymer system. These materials are highly biocompatible, stimuli-responsive, show unusual self-assembly properties and can include bioactive domains along the polypeptide chain. Applications of these engineered biomimetic polymers in nanotechnological systems, stimuli-responsive biosurfaces and tissue engineering will be discussed

Elastin-like recombinamers have grown in popularity in the field of protein-inspired biomimetic materials and have found widespread use in biomedical applications. Modern genetic-engineering techniques have allowed the design of multifunctional materials with an extraordinary control over their architecture and physicochemical properties, such as stimuli-responsiveness, monodispersity, biocompatibility or self-assembly, amongst others. Indeed, these materials are playing an increasingly important role in a diverse range of applications, such as drug delivery, tissue engineering and 'smart' systems. Herein, we review some of the most interesting examples of recent advances and progressive applications of elastin-like recombinamers in biomaterial and nano-engineering sciences in recent years.

We report a simple, fast, water-based method to obtain micropatterned biocompatible gels from a recently described family of elastin-like amphiphilic multiblock copolymers that combines reversible thermogelling properties under mild, physiological conditions with a means of replica molding.