Marine‐Derived Alginates: Advances in Drug Delivery, Tissue Engineering, and Regenerative Medicine—A Review

Alginates are polysaccharides found in brown seaweed and have special physicochemical properties like biocompatibility, biodegradability, and gelling capacity. They have been traditionally chosen for the food industry and are now used in cutting‐edge biomedical operations. This review merges material from history, industry, and science to give a comprehensive overview of alginates. The composition of different sugar residues (especially M and G), as well as their block structures and how they contribute to gelation and biological activity, are emphasized. Also, current approaches to modifying cells and combining different gene sequences in biomedical applications are examined. In the last few years, alginates have become significant in the fields of drug delivery, tissue engineering, and wound care. So they become gels when in the body; drugs are released in a regulated way, and cells can be enclosed. The use of ionic crosslinking, nanoparticle integration, and biofunctionalization has made these materials more useful for designing targeted medicines. Because alginates can be shaped in many ways, they are important in creating new types of biomedical devices. Additional progress in chemical modification and bioengineering should support more developments in precision medicine and regenerative therapies.