Engineering biomimetic extracellular matrix platforms: Material designs, dynamic cues, and translational perspectives

The extracellular matrix (ECM) has attracted increasing attention because of its contribution to tissue function extends well beyond structural support. Interactions between matrix components and resident cells continuously influence adhesion, migration, lineage commitment, and tissue remodeling through coordinated biochemical and mechanical signalling. When this regulatory balance is disturbed, progressive alterations in tissue architecture and cellular behaviour accompany disorders such as fibrosis, malignancy, cardiovascular disease, and chronic non-healing wounds. These observations have shifted the design of biomaterials from replicating matrix architecture alone toward recreating the dynamic biological functions that characterize the native ECM. This review examines how these ideas are translated into ECM-inspired materials, including fibrous scaffolds, hydrogels, hybrid constructs, and nanoparticle-integrated matrices. Emphasis is placed on adaptive systems that evolve with their cellular environment, alongside applications in wound healing, skeletal repair, cardiovascular regeneration, and organ-on-chip models. In this review, we have considered the factors that continue to limit clinical translation as well as emerging concepts that may help address them, including mechanistically informed computational design strategies and materials capable of temporal adaptation. Taken together, these trends indicate a gradual shift from reproducing the ECM as a structure toward understanding and re-establishing its functional role. The review further integrates recent advances in time-resolved biophysical characterisation, multiscale ECM-cell coupling, and longitudinal in vivo evaluation, highlighting critical design constraints that govern the translation of adaptive ECM-mimetic systems into clinically viable platforms.