There has been growing interest in polymeric systems that break down or undergo property changes in response to stimuli. Such polymers can play important roles in biological systems, where they can be used to control the release of therapeutics, modulate imaging signals, actuate movement, or direct the growth of cells. In this Perspective, after discussing the most important stimuli relevant to biological applications, we will present a selection of recent exciting developments. The growing importance of stimuli-responsive polysaccharides will be discussed, followed by a variety of stimuli-responsive polymeric systems for the delivery of small molecule drugs and nucleic acids. Switchable polymers for the emerging area of therapeutic response measurement in theranostics will be described. Then, the diverse functions that can be achieved using hydrogels cross-linked covalently, as well as by various dynamic approaches will be presented. Finally, we will discuss some of the challenges and future perspectives for the field.

Biomedical Polymers Laboratory College of Chemistry Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and State Key Laboratory of Radiation Medicine and Protection Soochow University Suzhou 215123 P R China

Centre for Materials Science and School of Chemistry and Physics Queensland University of Technology Brisbane QLD 4000 Australia

Department of Chemistry and Center for Life Sciences and Technologies Bogazici University Bebek 34342 Istanbul Türkiye

Department of Chemistry and Macromolecules Innovation Institute Virginia Tech Blacksburg Virginia 24061 United States

Department of Chemistry; Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering The University of Western Ontario London Ontario N6A 5B7 Canada

Department of Physical and Macromolecular Chemistry Faculty of Science Charles University 128 00 Prague 2 Czech Republic

Department of Supramolecular and Biomaterials Chemistry Leiden Institute of Chemistry Leiden University PO Box 9502 Leiden 2300 RA The Netherlands

Institute of Materials Research and Engineering Agency for Science Technology and Research 2 Fusionopolis Way Singapore 138634 Singapore

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