Recent Advances of Material-Decorated Photosynthetic Microorganisms and Their Aspects in Biomedical Applications

Photosynthetic microorganisms, especially microalgae and cyanobacteria, have been well-developed as attractive biomaterials with their eigen oxygen production capability, high-value metabolites, and diverse biofunctionalities. Moreover, recent advances in nanotechnology and materials sciences also witnessed promising prospects by integrating unique properties of distinctive functional materials with photosynthetic microorganisms to construct material-decorated photosynthetic microorganisms (MPMs) that can foster diversified biomedical functions. These integrated MPM hybrids can serve as smart cargoes for targeting therapeutic delivery, mainly due to their modifiable surface morphology, actuated propulsion, good biocompatibility, and spacious encapsulating effect. Moreover, attributing to the intrinsic oxygenation and autofluorescence, the MPMs can also act as the oxygen supplier to conduct various oxygen-related modulation and image-guided therapies. This review systematically outlines the recent advances of MPMs as unique platforms to achieve their targeted drug delivery. In addition, promising applications of these micro-sized biohybrids for in situ oxygen modulation and oxygen-related therapeutic manipulation are also summarized. Some relevant applications regarding their synergistic theranostics and the feasibility as the macro-sized scaffold for tissue engineering and wound healing are also carefully covered. Finally, current challenges and future perspectives of these multifunctional material-microbe hybridized conjugations are also discussed.