A multitude of sight-threatening retinal diseases, affecting hundreds of millions around the globe, lack effective pharmacological treatments due to ocular barriers and common drug delivery limitations. Polymeric nanoparticles (PNPs) are versatile drug carriers with sustained drug release profiles and tunable physicochemical properties which have been explored for ocular drug delivery to both anterior and posterior ocular tissues. PNPs can incorporate a wide range of drugs and overcome the challenges of conventional retinal drug delivery. Moreover, PNPs can be engineered to respond to specific stimuli such as ultraviolet, visible, or near-infrared light, and allow precise spatiotemporal control of the drug release, enabling tailored treatment regimens and reducing the number of required administrations.

Cardiovascular diseases remain a leading cause of mortality globally, with atherosclerosis representing a significant pathological means, often leading to myocardial infarction. Coronary artery bypass surgery, a common procedure used to treat coronary artery disease, presents challenges due to the limited autologous tissue availability or the shortcomings of synthetic grafts. Consequently, there is a growing interest in tissue engineering approaches to develop vascular substitutes. This review offers an updated picture of the state of the art in vascular tissue engineering, emphasising the design of scaffolds and dynamic culture conditions following a biomimetic approach. By emulating native vessel properties and, in particular, by mimicking the three-layer structure of the vascular wall, tissue-engineered grafts can improve long-term patency and clinical outcomes. Furthermore, ongoing research focuses on enhancing biomimicry through innovative scaffold materials, surface functionalisation strategies, and the use of bioreactors mimicking the physiological microenvironment. Through a multidisciplinary lens, this review provides insight into the latest advancements and future directions of vascular tissue engineering, with particular reference to employing biomimicry to create systems capable of reproducing the structure–function relationships present in the arterial wall. Despite the existence of a gap between benchtop innovation and clinical translation, it appears that the biomimetic technologies developed to date demonstrate promising results in preventing vascular occlusion due to blood clotting under laboratory conditions and in preclinical studies. Therefore, a multifaceted biomimetic approach could represent a winning strategy to ensure the translation of vascular tissue engineering into clinical practice.

Valvular heart disease remains a major global health burden, with currently available prosthetic heart valves failing to fully reproduce the adaptive, regenerative, and long-term functional properties of native valves. Tissue-engineered heart valves (TEHVs) have emerged as a promising alternative, aiming to develop living valve replacements capable of growth, remodeling, and physiological integration. However, despite substantial progress, the clinical translation of TEHVs remains limited, indicating the need for design strategies that go beyond material selection toward functionally mature constructs. This review presents recent advances in TEHV development from a biomimetic perspective, using native heart valves as a biological reference characterized by hierarchical structure, anisotropic mechanical behavior, mechanoresponsive cell populations, immune regulation, and temporally coordinated remodeling. We integrate current understanding of valve biology and mechanobiology with advances in scaffold materials and architecture, bioactive functionalization, biomechanical conditioning, and emerging fabrication and monitoring technologies. We discuss how biomimetic scaffold designs aim to replicate native extracellular matrix organization and nonlinear mechanics, how biological cues are used to regulate thrombosis, immune response, and cell recruitment, and how dynamic bioreactor systems support functional tissue maturation through controlled mechanical stimulation. Finally, key challenges for clinical translation are highlighted, and future directions are outlined, emphasizing integrated and biomimetically informed design approaches. Overall, this review aims to define guiding principles that may accelerate the development of durable, regenerative, and clinically translatable tissue-engineered heart valves. We argue that successful TEHV translation requires synchronized control of scaffold anisotropy, immune modulation, and mechanical conditioning rather than incremental material optimization.