Biological Processes in Materials Synthesis

Biological processes are rapidly emerging as viable routes to unique and highly structured materials. These processes generally fall into one of two categories. In biotic processes biological systems apply directly to material production while in biomimetic woek non-biological production processes mimic biological methods or materials. Advantages of biological processing range from increased quality through process control on the molecular level to novel materials with desirable properties. As these materials enter the scene the materials community will face challenges associated with using and testing materials that differ significantly from the traditional.