The area of nanomedicine has witnessed a surge in research interest in recent years owing to the huge potential offered by this domain to significantly impact on the healthcare industry. To progress, the advent of novel materials capable of meeting the stringent demands of conducting medical applications at a molecular level is required. Consequently, polymers are one such nanomaterial attracting considerable interest. In particular, star shaped polymers have emerged as strong candidates for the next generation of nanoparticle platforms considering the unique structural benefits offered by such architectures; ability to combine a high local density of polymeric arms and functionality within a size confined structural space. Furthermore, the inherent introduction of distinctive nano-environments achieved only by star shaped architectures advocates the concept of simultaneous multiple cargo loading, protection, transport and site specific delivery via the confines of a single star shaped polymeric enclosure. To achieve the next generation of star shaped polymers, new synthetic strategies for the design of well-defined star polymers of biocompatible compositions is required. The aim of this PhD was to develop novel synthetic star shaped polymer based biomaterials capable of biomedical applicability towards areas such as drug delivery and biorecogniton. The main synthetic strategies employed were ring opening polymerization (ROP) of amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides (NCA) and efficient amide coupling chemistries. Three different platforms were designed including stimuli responsive star shaped polypeptides, star shaped poly(lysine) as a vector for DNA and siRNA delivery and biologically active star shaped glycopolypeptides. Finally a fourth platform comprising a series of hybrid nanogel star polymers was developed in conjunction with IBM.