The development of advanced composite biomaterials combining the versatility and biodegradability of polymers and the unique characteristics of metal oxide nanoparticles unveils new horizons in emerging biomedical applications, including tissue regeneration, drug delivery and gene therapy, theranostics and medical imaging. Nanocrystalline cerium(IV) oxide, or nanoceria, stands out from a crowd of other metal oxides as being a truly unique material, showing great potential in biomedicine due to its low systemic toxicity and numerous beneficial effects on living systems. The combination of nanoceria with new generations of biomedical polymers, such as PolyHEMA (poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate)-based hydrogels, electrospun nanofibrous polycaprolactone or natural-based chitosan or cellulose, helps to expand the prospective area of applications by facilitating their bioavailability and averting potential negative effects. This review describes recent advances in biomedical polymeric material practices, highlights up-to-the-minute cerium oxide nanoparticle applications, as well as polymer-nanoceria composites, and aims to address the question: how can nanoceria enhance the biomedical potential of modern polymeric materials?

The main challenge of modern polymer science is to search for ways of further development of polymer civilization, which obviously includes living organisms on the Earth, without harmful consequences for civilization and the planet in its entirety. The review considers approaches to handle the problem of environmental accumulation of plastic waste. Promising trends in the development of polymer technologies, which can significantly reduce the amount of waste produced, are highlighted. Separate Sections address original methods of additive manufacturing technologies, such as the extrusion printing technique to produce multilayer films, 3D printing by using high-temperature polyimide materials, new functional siloxane oligomers and hydrogels for medical uses. Much attention is paid to the development and applications of biodegradable materials in medicine, packaging industry and agriculture. An analysis of the European strategy for plastics and plastic disposal demonstrates that it has a number of limitations due to high energy requirements and changes in Earth's carbon balance. The modern approach to plastic waste management free from these shortcomings is briefly outlined. Bibliography — 1233 references.