Chemotherapeutic agents are considered one of the strategies in treating cancer. However, their use is faced by many challenges, such as poor water solubility leading to poor bioavailability and non-selective targeting of cancerous cells leading to diminished therapeutic actions and systemic adverse effects. Many approaches were adopted to overcome these drawbacks and to achieve the targeted delivery of the chemotherapeutic agents to the cancerous cells while minimizing adverse effects. Recently, supramolecular systems such as macrocycles have gained attention in the field of cancer therapy for being able to encapsulate different anticancer drugs via either host-guest complexation or self-assembly leading to a myriad of advantages. This review highlights the most recent studies concerned with the design of such novel systems for cancer therapy.

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The use of nanomaterials in bioseparations has been recently introduced to overcome the drawbacks of the conventional methods. Different forms of nanomaterials, particularly magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), carbon nanotubes (CNTs), casted nanoporous membranes, and electrospun nanofiber membranes were utilized in biological separation for the aim of production of different biomolecules such as proteins, amino acids, nucleic acids, and enzymes. This paper critically reviews the state-of-the-art efforts undertaken in this regard, with emphasis on the synthesis and performance evaluation of each nanoform. Challenges and future prospects in developing nanoenabled bioseparations are also discussed, for the purpose of highlighting potential advances in the synthesis and fabrication of novel nanomaterials as well as in the design of efficient nanoenabled processes for separating a wide spectrum of biomolecules.

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