Abstract
Natural cell membranes from various sources vary in surface markers, chemical composition, and physicochemical properties, which can contribute to batch variability, poor biodistribution, limited tissue targeting, restricted penetration, and reduced therapeutic effects. Interest is growing in engineering cell membrane of living cells and cell membrane-based platforms such as extracellular vesicles, bacterial membrane vesicles, vesicle mimetic nanoparticles, and cell membrane coated nanoparticles. Functional biomaterials such as recombinant receptors, peptides, aptamers, antibodies, liposomes, bioorthogonal groups, fluorescent probes, nanomaterials, polymeric materials, hydrophobic anchors, and synthetic drugs have emerged as a transformative tool in the field of cell surface engineering, offering novel capabilities to modulate cellular functions for various biomedical applications. These biomaterials are designed to interact with cell membrane to enhance homing potential, cell-cell recognition, targeted accumulation, drug loading potential, monitoring capabilities, antigen presentation, immunological escape, or immune modulation for disease-specific treatment. These engineered functions paving the way to membrane-engineered platform to enhance tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, drug delivery, immunotherapy, vaccine development, diagnostics, and theranostics application. This chapter provides an overview of the various functional biomaterials employed in cell surface engineering, highlighting their functional aspects, applications in therapeutics, and the potential for future innovation in engineered cell membrane-based biotechnologies.