Biological and biomimetic formation and organization of magnetic nanoparticles Biological materials have ever been used by humans because of their remarkable properties. This is surprising since the materials are formed under physiological conditions and with commonplace constituents. Nature thus not only provides us with inspiration for designing new materials but also teaches us how to use soft molecules to tune interparticle and external forces to structure and assemble simple building blocks into functional entities. Magnetotactic bacteria and their chain of magnetosomes represent a striking example of such an accomplishment where a very simple living organism controls the properties of inorganics via organics at the nanometer scale to form a single magnetic dipole that orients the cell in the Earth magnetic field lines. My group has developed a biological and a bio inspired research based on these bacteria. My research at the interface between chemistry materials science physics and biology focuses on how biological systems synthesize organize and use minerals. We apply the design principles to sustain…