Dr. Guibal obtained a doctorate (PhD) in waste management from the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA) de Lyon (France) in 1990, after getting his diploma from French engineering school, Ecole des mines d’Alès, in 1986. He has published about 200 scientific publications. He is developing a research at the frontier between environmental engineering and material sciences, “playing” with the properties of biopolymers, ionic liquids and metal ions for designing new materials and applications (metal extraction, wastewater treatment, supported catalysis, etc.). Dr. Guibal is currently co-editor of this journal (Current Applied Polymer Science), published by Bentham Science Publishers.

Dr. Denis Rodrigue obtained a Ph.D. (1996) in chemical engineering from Sherbrooke University (Canada) with a focus on rheology and non-Newtonian fluid mechanics. He then moved to Laval University (Canada) where he is now a full professor in chemical engineering. His main research areas are polymer processing in general with an emphasis on the chemical, electrical, morphological, physical, rheological and thermal properties of complex structures such as blends, composites, fibers, films, foams, membranes and multilayers. He has over 200 papers published in international journals and over 12 book chapters.

Dr. Sunil K. Bajpai obtained his doctorate (Ph. D.) degree from Rani Durgawati University, Jabalpur(M.P.), India on polymer chemistry. He is professor of chemistry in Govt. Model Science College, Jabalpur (M.P.), India. He has published over 150 research papers in various journals of international repute. He has also authored a number of book chapters, published by reputed international publishers. Over 30 students have obtained Ph. D. under his guidance. His areas of research include drug delivery systems, nanoparticles loaded antimicrobial films for wound healing.

Dr. Nagai is professor of the Department of Applied Chemistry and chair of the Center for Polymer Science in Meiji University, Japan. Currently Dr. Nagai is also the convenor of ISO-TC61/SC11/WG3-Plastics Films and Sheeting. In 2016, Dr. Nagai joined in editorial board members as a regional editor of this journal (Current Applied Polymer Science, CAPS), published by Bentham Science Publishers.

Low, I.M. earned his doctoral degree in Materials Engineering at Monash University, Australia in 1987. He obtained a Bachelor of Engineering (Honors) degree in Materials Engineering also from Monash University in 1983. He is currently attached to the School of Science and is a professor at Curtin University, Perth, Australia. Low authored/co-authored over 230 refereed scientific articles and more than 10 books as of March 2016 and his h-index is 28 with 2784 citations. His research interests include polymer composites, nanotechnology, advanced materials processing and characterisation. He is the current WA Branch President and Federal Secretary of the Australian Ceramic Society He is also the recipient of the prestigious 1996 Joint Australasian Ceramic Society/Ceramic Society of Japan Ceramic Award for ceramics research. He is on the editorial board of several journals such as Journal of Nanomaterials and Journal of Ceramics.

Dr. Nedeljković obtained a doctorate (Ph.D.) in Chemistry from the Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY. Currently Dr. Nedeljković is a senior researcher in the Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, University of Belgrade, Serbia. His main research interest is development of synthetic methods for size and shape control of various types of nanomaterials (noble metals, semiconductors and oxides), as well as their usage as building blocks for preparation of polymer based nanocomposites. Dr. Nedeljković published more than 150 scientific papers during his thirty years long scientific career.

Victor-Manuel Castano-Meneses holds BSc, MSc and PhD in Physics from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, where he is a Full-Professor at the Centro de Fisica Aplicada y Tecnologia Avanzada. He spent 2 years as a Postdoctoral Fellow at IBM´s Yorktown Heights Research Center and has authored and co-authored over 600 peer-reviewer papers in international journals. Prof. Castano is one of the most cited latinamerican scientists in his field and has advised over 60 PhD thesis and numerous BSc and MSc disertations. He also holds more than 20 patents and has been able to effectively transfer nanotechnology knowledge from the lab to the industry.

Dr. N.Tz. Dintcheva is an Associate Professor in Science and Technology of Materials at the University of Palermo. She was employed as Assistant Professor in the period ranging from 01/2005 to 12/2004 at the same university. Main research fields are related to the formulation, processing, characterization and durability of polymer and biopolymer -based complex systems. She awarded a Tempus Fellowship (FP6) and a Marie Currie Fellowship (FP7).

Dr. Mohamed Khayet is director of the “Membranes and Renewable Energy” research group of the University Complutense of Madrid (UCM), director of the Department Applied Physics I (UCM) and an Associated Researcher in IMDEA Water (Madrid Institute of Advanced Studies on Water, Spain). He received his Ph.D. in Physics in 1997 from the UCM. He is an expert on polymeric membrane science and nanotechnology. He has published more than 130 papers in international journals with an H-index of 40, inventor of 6 issued Patents and published 3 books on membrane science. He received the Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water (PSIPW) in 2012.

He received his degree in Chemistry cum laude in 2001, and the PhD degree in 2005 from University of Calabria. He is currently member of the Department of Pharmacy, Health and Nutrition Science of the same University. In 2004 he was visiting researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, Texas, USA. His research activities are mainly related to the polymer chemistry and technology for the preparation of stimuli-responsive drug delivery system and functional polymer for food industry. He is author and co-author of more than 100 publications, including research and review articles as well as invited book chapters.

Dr Naima Belhaneche-Bensemra is a professor at the Environmental Engineering Department of the National Polytechnic School of Algiers where she is in charge of various lectures. She is Head of the Materials and Environment Interactions Team of the Laboratory of Sciences and Techniques of the Environment. She received the engineering degree in polymeric materials in 1985 from university Ferhat Abbas of Sétif and the PhD Degree in polymeric materials and composites from university Claude Bernard-Lyon I. She is author of more than 100 publications, including research articles in peer reviewed impact factor journals as well as invited book chapters.

Dr. Bianco obtained a B.S. and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the National University of Córdoba, Argentina. He is a Principal Researcher of the National Research Council of Argentina (CONICET) and of the Center of Excellence in Products and Processes (CEPROCOR). Dr. Bianco is also a Full Professor of Biophysical Chemistry and Biotechnology at the National University of La Rioja, Argentina. He has published more than 50 scientific papers and is a co-inventor of 7 Argentinean patents and 3 issued PCT patents. Dr. Bianco is one of the founders and currently the Executive Director of CEPROFARM (public pharmaceutical company of CEPROCOR).

Dr. Buckner obtained his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Purdue University in 1988. He has held faculty appointments at Saint Louis University, Columbus State University, and the University of Arizona, Tucson. He has served as Chair of Chemistry at Saint Louis University and Dean of Parks College Engineering, Aviation, and Technology. He has held visiting appointments at the Air Force Research Laboratory (Dayton, OH) and the Naval Research Laboratory (Washington D.C.). Dr. Buckner is co-Founder of nanoMetallix LLC and has over 75 publications, patents, and book chapters.

M. G. Buonomenna, born in 1975, obtained her degree in Chemistry from the University of Salerno (Italy) in 1998. She holds a Master in Membrane Materials and Operations from Institute on Membrane and Technology (ITM) (former IRMERC)-National Research Council (CNR) and a doctorate (Ph.D.) in Chemical Engineering and Materials from the University of Calabria. In 2014 she obtained the qualification of Associate Professor in Chemical Fundamentals of Technologies from the Italian Ministry for Instruction, University and Research (MIUR). She has been an invited speaker in numerous international conferences and referee for international Research Agencies as well as journals including Energy & Environmental Science, Chemical Communications, Microporous and Mesoporous Materials. M. G. Buonomenna is author of more than 60 papers in peer-reviewed international journals, 100 publications in congress proceedings, 9 chapters of scientific books and editor of 1 book on advanced membrane materials.

Dr. Aurica P. Chiriac obtained a doctorate (Ph.D.) in Chemistry from the “Petru Poni” Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry Iasi. Currently Dr. Chiriac is Senior Researcher at the “Petru Poni” Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry. She has published more than 150 scientific publications and is a named inventor of 45 issued patents. She is Member of the Editorial Advisory Board of some publications, and also is member of some Association of Scientists, of the Romanian Polymer Society, and of the Romanian Chemical Society.

Dr. Jianxun Ding is an associated professor in Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry (CIAC), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He received his B.S. degree from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 2007 and then obtained his Ph.D. degree from CIAC, CAS in 2013. He was awarded the 2012 President's Excellence Award from CAS, and also more than 10 other independent awards. He has published over 120 academic papers in high-impact journals and has applied for over 60 Chinese patents. His research interests focus on synthesis of functional biodegradable polymers for drug delivery, immunotherapy, and regenerative medicine.

Zehra Durmus works as an Assistant Professor in Faculty of Pharmacy in Bezmialem Vakıf University. She received her undergraduate degree in Department of Chemical Engineering at Istanbul University, Turkey, in 1999. After earning her M.S. degree in 2009, she completed her Ph.D. degree in 2013 in chemistry. Dr. Durmus is the corresponding and coauthor of several scholarly articles published in the fields of magnetic nanoparticles, carbon nanomaterials (graphene and derivatives), ferrites, and magnetism.

Dr. Rilton Alves de Freitas obtained a Ph.D in Sciences- Biochemistry/Chemistry of Macromolecules, with focus on biopolymers and SLS, rheology, NMR and thermal analysis. He spent one year as postdoctoral fellow at Tulane University/USA at PolyRMC group and one year as visiting researcher at Institute of Molecules and Materials of Le Mans, France. Actually, he is professor of Physical and Colloidal Chemistry at Federal University of Paraná. His research activity is related to real time polymerization and polymer chemical/enzymatic modification, water-in-water Pickering emulsions, rheology, polymer and surfactant interactions. He is author/co-author of over 70 publications, patents and book chapters.

Dr. Junkuo Gao is a professor at Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, China. He obtained his PhD in Zhejiang University, China in 2010. Then, he worked at Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden) and Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) as a postdoctor. In 2013, he joined the College of Materials and Textiles at Zhejiang Sci-Tech University as distinguished professor of Zhejiang Province. His research interest is metal-organic frameworks based nanomaterials for clean energy applications. He published more than 60 articles in peer-reviewed journal with citations for than 2400 times.

Gennaro Gentile, chemist, is research scientist at IPCB-CNR. His research activities are focused on functional polymer based composite materials. Scientific coordinator of several RȦD projects and of the IPCB-CNR laboratory of electron microscopy analysis, he has published more than 100 papers in international journals.

Prof. Antonio Gloriais a Researcher at the National Research Council of Italy and Professor at different universities. He isa Scientific Advisory Board Member of the FraunhoferInternational Joint LaboratoryIdeas –University of Naples “Federico II”.

He is a Member of the European Society for Biomaterials, the ACS and a Full Member of the ANS. He was awarded and appointed as “Future Leader” in Science and Technology (“Dialogue between Nobel Laureates and Future Leaders,” STS Forum, October 2015, Kyoto, Japan). His main research interests include additive manufacturing, reverse engineering, design,modeling/simulation, biomaterials, tissue engineering, materials science and technology.

"Dr. Gomes obtained a doctorate (D.Sc.) in Science and Technology of Polymers from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil in 2006. Currently Dr. Gomes is an Associated Professor in the UFRJ. He has published more than 90 scientific publications and is the inventor of 5 Brazilian patents. He received the award “Young Scientist of Rio de Janeiro State” twice (FAPERJ 2011 and 2014) and he is member of Post Graduate Program in Science and Technology of Polymers of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro since 2008"

Prof. Kamal K. Kar, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science is Umang Gupta Chair Professor from July 2014 to till date. He pursued higher studies from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India, and Iowa State University, USA before joining as a Lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials science at IIT Kanpur in 2001. He was a BOYSCAST Fellow in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA in 2003 (May-December). Prof. Kar has published more than 160 papers in international referred journals, 110 conference papers, 06 books on nanomaterials and their nanocomposites, 30 review articles/book chapters and more than 55 national and international patents. http://home.iitk.ac.in/%7Ekamalkk/index.htm.

Dr. İsmet Kaya obtained a Ph.D. (1995) in Polymer Chemistry from Fırat University (Turkey). Her main research areas are polymeric materials for advanced technologies for the past 20 years and on the molecular design and synthesis and characterization of oligo-polyphenols/polymers, electrical conductivity, chemical kinetic, chemical kinetic of thermal degradation, cure of epoxy resins, and gas-separating ability. He has over 230 papers published in international journals and one book chapter.

Dr. Santosh Kumar received his B.Sc, M.Sc. and D. Phil. from University of Allahabad, India. He worked as a Research Associate at Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad, India. He was awarded CAS-TWAS Postdoctoral fellowship and worked at Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. Later he joined as a KU Brain Pool Professor at the Konkuk University, Seoul, South Korea. He is working in Chemistry Centre, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal. During his career, Dr. Kumar has published a number of articles and book chapters, attended and participated in local and international workshops, and conferences.

Dr. Wei Li earned his Ph.D. in material Science and Engineering from Tianjin Polytechnic University and he was awarded the “Excellent Doctor Degree Dissertation of Tianjin”. After postdoc training at Tsinghua University, he was appointed as an Associate Professor at Tianjin Polytechnic University. His research activities are mainly related to polymer microcapsule/nanocapsule and polymer fiber. He has authored more than 50 SCI indexed publications with total citation over 730.

Dr. Geoffrey Mitchell is a Professor and Vice-Director of the Centre for Rapid and Sustainable Product Development at the Polytechnic Institute Leiria in Portugal. Geoffrey Mitchell carried out his doctoral work at the University of Cambridge in the UK and subsequently held a post-doctoral fellowship at Cambridge and a JSPS Fellowship at Hokkaido University in Japan.. He is a Visiting Member of the Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering Department of the Oxford Universities NHS Foundation Trust. He is the editor of a book “Electrospinning; Principles, practice and possibilities” published by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Dr Mahmoud Mohsin has a Bachelor degree in chemistry, from the University of Mosul / Iraq. He obtained his M.Sc.(1982) and Ph.D. (1984) degrees in Polymer Science and Technology from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) UK, in the Materials Science Center. Immediately after graduation, he worked as a Senior Research Fellow at Stirling University, UK.. In 1990 he joined the newly established the Interdisciplinary Research Center (IRC) in Polymer Science and Technology at Leeds University, UK. In September, 2000 he moved from Leeds University to join the Chemistry Department at the United Arab Emirates University.

Dr. Parisi obtained a Master’s Degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology at University of Calabria in 2007, followed by a Ph.D. in “Environment, Health and Eco-friendly Processes”, with a Ph.D. thesis entitled “Polymeric Materials for Biomedical Applications: Synthesis and Characterization”, from the same university in 2011. During her Ph.D., she was also a Visiting Researcher at the “Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, University of Strathclyde” (Glasgow, United Kingdom) carrying out research studies in the field of branched polymers. Dr. Parisi is a founder and currently the Technical Director of the spin-off company of the University of Calabria “Macrofarm s.r.l.”.

Dr. Poletto is a chemical engineer and obtained a doctorate (Ph.D.) in Materials Engineering from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Currently, Dr. Poletto is professor and researcher at University of Caxias do Sul, working with rocket science, polymers and composite materials. He has published more than 100 scientific publications and several book chapters. He is also member of the Polymer Laboratory Research Group at University of Caxias do Sul.

Anjanapura V. Raghu received his Ph.D. degree in polymer Science from the Karnatak University, Dharwad, Karnataka, India, and he served as a Postdoc at Energy Harvest-Storage Research Center, University of Ulsan, Republic of Korea. At present Anjanapura serves as a Professor at the Center for Emerging Technologies, Department of Basic Science, Jain University, India. He has published about 60 research articles in reputed national/international journals, 5 book chapters, 25 conference proceedings, and one review article. He acts as a Potential Reviewer for more than 70 international journals. He is editor/editorial board member in many International Journals. He received many National/International award in his credit.

Dr.Vijaya K Rangari is a professor at Tuskegee University’s Materials Science and Engineering department, Rangri received his Ph.D in Polymer Chemistry from Osmania University, India and a postdoctoral experience at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore India and Bar-Ilan University, Israel. Rangari’s main research interests are: a) Synthesis of various types of nanoparticles with different shapes and sizes using CVD, sonochemical autogenic pressure reactor and microwave techniques; and b) Development of thermoset and thermoplastic polymeric nanocomposites for structural applications. c) Alignment of acicular nanoparticles in polymeric fibers and thin films through melt extrusion for multifunctional textile and food packaging applications.

Dr. Paulo Reis obtained Ph. D. in Mechanical Engineering from University of Beira Interior and he has more than 20 years of teaching and research experience in the field of mechanical engineering. The main areas of research include polymer composites and nanocomposites, as well as adhesive joints, in terms of mechanical characterization for engineering applications. His research work is published in more than 160 publications in numerous peer-reviewed journals, book chapters and conference proceedings. Finally, he has also serve as a member of scientific committees and editorial board of scientific journals.

Dr. Sahiner obtained his PhD in 2005 from Tulane University, New Orleans, LA and did postdoctoral studies at University of Delaware at Materials Science and Engineering, and at Tulane University School of Medicine, Biochemistry. Dr. Sahiner is the director of Nanoscience and Technology Research and Application Center. He has published more than 170 papers in and inventor of several issued patents. Dr Sahiner has been serving as an editorial board member for few journals.

Dr Alireza Salabat obtained his PhD degree from the Faculty of Chemistry, Tabriz University, Tabriz, Iran. He was then worked as a lecturer in Arak University, Arak, Iran. As an academic member, he has worked in the Chemistry department of Arak University investigating on the solution thermodynamics and new extraction systems containing polymer and surfactants. He has worked as a visiting professor in colloid center of University of Bristol. Dr Salabat is working as a full Professor of Physical chemistry, focusing on colloid and polymer chemistry, Nanochemistry and Nanocatalyst at Arak University, Faculty of Science.

Dr Lu Shao obtained the doctorate (Ph.D.) from National University of Singapore. He is currently a full professor in School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) in China. Before joining HIT in 2006, he had worked as the assistant project manager in C-PAK Company, Singapore for more than one year. His research interests are advanced membrane materials and functional composite materials, with a particular focus on energy and environmental issues. He was awarded the Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad in 2008 and New Century Excellent Talents in University in 2011. He has published more than 70 SCI-indexed paper and filed more than 40 patents (US, PCT and China).

Dr. Shevchenko graduated from Moscow Institute of Physics and technology. Obtained Ph.D. from Institute of Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. He also holds Dr.Sc. in Chemistry from Institute of Synthetic Polymeric Materials, Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. He has published over 170 scientific publications, 5 books and book chapters. At present he is Leading Researcher at the Institute of Synthetic Polymeric Materials.

Dr. Sopyan obtained a Doctor of Engineering degree in Applied Chemistry from the University of Tokyo, Japan in 1996. He joined Faculty of Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia in 2004 and he is currently a professor of materials engineering in the university. His current research activity involves the development of calcium phosphate ceramics for bone substitutes, polymer composites, biopolymers, and functional ceramics for structural, environmental, and energy applications. Dr. Sopyan has published more than 150 scientific publications in refereed journals. He is a member of the Editorial Board of this journal (Current Applied Polymer Science).

Dr. Sun received his Ph. D. in polymer chemistry from University of Southern California in 1996. After a postdoctoral research at the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute, Dr. Sun joined faculty team at Chemistry Department and the Center for Materials Research of Norfolk State University in January 1998. Dr. Sun is supervising an organic and polymeric materials research group consisting of materials science PhD and MS graduate students. Dr. Sun is a member and technical referee of several major scientific societies, and he has published and presented extensively in the area of electro-active organic and polymeric materials and devices.

Dr. Mehmet Atilla Tasdelen completed B.Sc. (2000) degree at Chemistry Department of Ege University, M.Sc (2002) and Ph.D (2008) degrees at Polymer Science and Technology Programme of Istanbul Technical University under the supervision of Prof. Yusuf Yagci. He joined Yalova University, Department of Polymer Engineering in July, 2010 as an assistant professor and in February 2013 he was promoted to full associate professor. He is co-author of more than 90 original research papers and several book chapters.

Dr. Ummartyotin received PhD in polymer science at The Petroleum and Petrochemical College, Chulalongkorn University in 2011 and spent for a year as postdoctoral fellowship research associate at Center of Biocomposite and Biomaterials Processing, University of Toronto, Canada. In 2015, he was promoted as assistant professor in materials science, Faculty of Science and Technology, Thammasat University, Thailand. He specialized in bio-based composite materials, cellulose technology, chitin and chitosan as application such as electronic device, hydrogel in medical technology, as well as food contact materials, photocatalytic process for wastewater treatment. Dr. Ummartyotin holds Toray Thailand Science Foundation Awards 2017.

I had received my Ph.D. degree from the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ICCAS), and was appointed as an assistance professor in ICCAS. My research interests are design, synthesis and application of biodegradable polymers and organic nanoparticles for self-assembly, imaging, drug delivery. Current work focuses on polymeric and dendritic design and synthesis, self-assembly, pharmaceuticals, micro/nano hydrogel, controlled drug delivery and drug-loaded implants.

Dr. Yong Wang obtained Ph. D. in Polymer Physics and Chemistry from Sichuan University and joined Southwest Jiaotong University in 2004. He was awarded Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship in 2004 and the ‘Renewed Research’ from AvH in 2014. Dr. Wang has served as a professor of Polymer Science and Engineering and director of Polymer Materials and Engineering Department in Southwest Jiaotong University since 2010. His research activities are mainly related to polymeric composites, and he has authored more than 160 peer-reviewed articles in international journals with more than 2000 citations.

Dr. Yildiz studied chemistry at Karadeniz Technical University, finishing his Ph.D. in 1998 supervised by Prof.Baki Hazer . He came to Kocaeli University as an assistant professor in 1998. After postdoctoral work on miniemulsion and emulsion polymerization with Prof. Markus Antonietti, Dr Katharina Landfester and Dr Klaus Tauer at Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (Golm, Germany) he returned to Turkey and was promoted to associate professor in 2004. He was a visiting scientist at the University of Liverpool, Department of Chemistry within the Centre for Materials Discovery working with Prof. Andy Cooper and Dr Jon Weaver (2008). He became a full professor in 2009. His research interests include macroinitiators, heterophase polymerization, polymeric phthalocyanines and hydrogels. Dr.Yildiz is currently one of the Editor of "Current Applied Polymer Science" journal, published by Bentham Science Publishers.

Dr. Haijun Yu earned his Ph.D. from Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences . After postdoc training at Ludwig-Maximillians University, UTSouthwestern Medical Centre at Dallas and Tohoku University (Japan), he was appointed as an Associate Professor at Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, CAS since 2012. Thereafter he was promoted to a Professor in Pharmaceutics. He is engaged in the research of polymer-based stimuli-responsive drug delivery systems and cancer theranostics. He has authored > 80 SCIindexed publications with total citation > 2000. Dr. Yu is also the receiptor of China National Science Fund for Excellent Young Scholarship.

Dr Zia completed his PhD in 2008, immediately joined Department of Applied Chemistry, GC University Faisalabad, Pakistan as Assistant Professor and promoted as Associate Professor of Chemistry in 2014. He has published 100+ research articles in peer reviewed impact factor journals, published/edited 05 books/book chapters. He is on the editorial board of 3 journals and referee of 19 journals. He has received numerous national awards including HEC Best Young Research Scholar Award. His research interest includes synthetic polymers functionalized by natural materials, polymers for biomedical applications, etc.