Biomineralization refers to the processes by which organisms form minerals. The control exerted by many organisms over mineral formation distinguishes these processes from abiotic mineralization. In living organisms, nanoscale building blocks combine into self-assembled biominerals under the control of an organic matrix. Biomineralization, especially mineralization of unicellular organisms, physiologic and pathological mineralization, plays a vital role in biology and materials research and could offer a variety of inspirations for biomaterials design and biomedical engineering. As the basic building blocks of biological hard tissues such as bone, dentin, and enamel, hydroxyapatite (HAP) nanoparticles play an important role in the construction of biominerals. As analogues of biological units, nano-HAP can be used as ideal biomaterials due to their nice biocompatibility and bone/enamel integration. The construction of nanostructured calcium phosphates is highlighted in bone/tooth hard tissue engineering. Inspired by unicellular organisms, single cell and virus were entrapped in a biomimetic mineral shell and were endowed with enhanced resistance abilities in the hostile environment. Several ongoing works and related proceedings in this fields are highlighted in this article. The perspective from biomineralization to biomedical research including bone and teeth repair, cellular (virus) shell engineering are illustrated. As the bridge of inorganic chemistry and biomedicine, biomineralization is the well of knowledge for hard tissue repair, the guiding principle for preventing disease of pathological mineralization, the inspiration for cell interfacial engineering, and need to be exploited adequately.

Contents
1 Introduction
1.1 The summary of biomineralization
1.2 Calcium phosphate
2 Biomedical engineering inspired by biomineralization
2.1 Bone and teeth repair
2.2 Cellular (virus) shell engineering
3 Conclusions and outlook