Chapter 3 Polyphosphazene-Based Biomaterials for Regenerative Engineering Kenneth S. Ogueri 1,2,3 and Cato T. Laurencin *,1,2,3,4,5,6 1 Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269, United States 2 Institute for Regenerative Engineering, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut 06030, United States 3 Raymond and Beverly Sackler Center for Biomedical, Biological, Physical and Engineering Sciences, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut 06030, United States 4 Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut 06030, United States 5 Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269, USA 6 Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269, United States * E-mail: Laurencin@uchc.edu. The emergence of regenerative engineering provides an innovative approach to tackling the challenging issues of tissue loss or failure. Regenerative engineering presents a tool that integrates the felds of advanced materials science, stem cell science, physics, developmental biology and clinical translation for the common goal of regenerating complex tissues and biological systems such as a knee or a whole limb. Biomaterials play an essential role in the success of this new approach. An ideal biomaterial for regenerative engineering should be biocompatible, have desired initial mechanical properties, should degrade in a rate that is appropriate for tissue regeneration, have resorbable degradation products, can present interconnected porous structures, be osteoconductive and allow for neovascularization. However, so far an ideal biomaterial that meets all these criteria listed above has not been developed. Polyphosphazene polymers offer an important and unique © 2018 American Chemical Society Downloaded via Kenneth Ogueri on August 2, 2018 at 22:29:20 (UTC). See https://pubs.acs.org/sharingguidelines for options on how to legitimately share published articles. Andrianov and Allcock; Polyphosphazenes in Biomedicine, Engineering, and Pioneering Synthesis ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.