Abstract Aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS) have been mainly proposed as powerful platforms for the separation and purification of high-value biomolecules. However, after more than seven decades of research, ATPS are still a major academic curiosity, without their wide acceptance and implementation by industry, leading to the question whether ATPS should be mainly considered in downstream bioprocessing. Recently, due to their versatility and expansion of the Biotechnology and Material Science fields, these systems have been investigated in novel applications, such as in cellular micropatterning and bioprinting, microencapsulation, to mimic cells conditions, among others. This perspective aims to be a reflection on the current status of ATPS as separation platforms, while overviewing their applications, strengths and limitations. Novel applications, advantages and bottlenecks of ATPS are further discussed, indicating some directions on their use to create innovative industrial processes and commercial products.

中文翻译：

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水性两相系统：走向新颖和更具破坏性的应用

摘要 水相两相系统 (ATPS) 主要被认为是分离和纯化高价值生物分子的强大平台。然而，经过七年多的研究，ATPS仍然是一个主要的学术好奇心，没有得到业界的广泛接受和实施，导致了下游生物加工是否应该主要考虑ATPS的问题。最近，由于它们在生物技术和材料科学领域的多功能性和扩展性，这些系统已经在新的应用中进行了研究，例如细胞微图案和生物打印、微囊化、模拟细胞条件等。这个观点旨在反映 ATPS 作为分离平台的当前状态，同时概述它们的应用、优势和局限性。新颖的应用，