Fluorocarbons and fluorosurfactants for in vivo oxygen transport (blood substitutes), imaging, and drug delivery

The development of biomaterials to treat, repair, or reconstruct the human body is an increasingly important component of materials research. Collaboration between materials researchers and their industrial and clinical partners is essential for the development of this complex field. To demonstrate the importance of these interactions, two articles in this issue focus on advances in biomaterials relating to the use of colloidal systems for transport, drug delivery, and other medical applications. These articles were coordinated by Dominique Muster (Universite' Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg) and Franz Burny (Hopital Erasme, Brussels). The following is the first of these two articles.