In 1985, the serendipitous discovery of fullerene triggered the research of carbon structures into the world of symmetric nanomaterials. Consequently, Robert F. Curl, Harold W. Kroto and Richard E. Smalley were awarded the Noble prize in chemistry for their discovery of the buckminsterfullerene (C60 with a cage-like fused-ring structure). Fullerene, as the first symmetric nanostructure in carbon nanomaterials family, opened up new perspectives in nanomaterials field leading to discovery and research on other symmetric carbon nanomaterials like carbon nanotubes and two-dimensional graphene which put fullerenes in the shade, while fullerene as the most symmetrical molecule in the world with incredible properties deserves more attention in nanomaterials studies. Buckyball with its unique structure consisting of sp2 carbons which form a high symmetric cage with different sizes (C60, C70 and so on); however, the most abundant among them is C60 which possesses 60 carbon atoms. The combination of unique properties of this molecule extends its applications in divergent areas of science, especially those related to biomedical engineering. This review aims to be a comprehensive review with a broad interest to the biomedical engineering community, being a substantial overview of the most recent advances on fullerenes in biomedical applications that have not been exhaustively and critically reviewed in the past few years.

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富勒烯：生物医学工程师重访老朋友

1985 年，富勒烯的意外发现将碳结构的研究带入了对称纳米材料的世界。因此，Robert F. Curl、Harold W. Kroto 和 Richard E. Smalley 因发现巴克敏斯特富勒烯（具有笼状稠环结构的 C60）而获得诺贝尔化学奖。富勒烯作为碳纳米材料家族中的第一个对称纳米结构，开辟了纳米材料领域的新视角，导致了对其他对称碳纳米材料的发现和研究，如碳纳米管和二维石墨烯，将富勒烯置于阴影中，而富勒烯则是最对称的世界上具有令人难以置信的特性的分子在纳米材料研究中值得更多关注。Buckyball 具有独特的结构，由 sp2 碳组成，形成不同尺寸（C60、C70 等）的高对称笼；然而，其中最丰富的是 C60，它拥有 60 个碳原子。这种分子独特性质的组合扩展了其在不同科学领域的应用，尤其是与生物医学工程相关的领域。这篇综述旨在对生物医学工程界产生广泛兴趣，对富勒烯在生物医学应用中的最新进展进行全面综述，这些进展在过去几年中尚未得到详尽和严格的审查。这种分子独特性质的组合扩展了其在不同科学领域的应用，尤其是与生物医学工程相关的领域。这篇综述旨在对生物医学工程界产生广泛兴趣，对富勒烯在生物医学应用中的最新进展进行全面综述，这些进展在过去几年中尚未得到详尽和严格的审查。这种分子独特性质的组合扩展了其在不同科学领域的应用，尤其是与生物医学工程相关的领域。本综述旨在对生物医学工程界具有广泛兴趣的综合综述，对过去几年中富勒烯在生物医学应用中的最新进展进行实质性概述。