Unchain my blood: Lessons learned from self-assembled dendrimers as nanoscale heparin binders

This review work reports a collection of coupled experimental/computational results taken from our own experience in the field of self-assembled dendrimers for heparin binding. These studies present and discuss both the potentiality played by this hybrid methodology to the design, synthesis, and development of possible protamine replacers for heparin anticoagulant activity reversal in biomedical applications, and the obstacles this field has still to overcome before these molecules can be translated into nanomedicines available in clinical settings.