Life Engineering of Materials: Artificial Materials as Plugins for Biological Regulations

Biomineralization is nature's precision engineering system, creating functional biomaterials with exceptional performance through orchestrated organic-inorganic synergistic interactions. Beyond fundamental investigations into biomineralization processes and mechanisms, research has evolved from structural biomimetics toward creating interdependent material-organism hybrids through mineralization-inspired design. Breakthroughs in technologies such as inorganic ion polymerization have significantly advanced strategies for fusing artificial materials with hard tissue regeneration (teeth/bones). Through material-biological integration strategies such as extracellular assembly, artificial organelle transplantation, and artificial functional tissue construction, the creation of artificial life plugins with enhanced nongenetic biological functions (not directly encoded by the DNA) has been achieved. A key pathway to achieving mineralization-inspired design lies in the development of a material-engineered bio-plugin, the material unit with interfaces characterized by chemically tailored compatibility and programmable bio-interactions. Materials that can serve as bio-plugins confer organisms with emergent functionalities such as cell protection, vaccine enhancement, and disease treatment. This review systematically summarizes recent advancements in artificial material-biological fusion technologies, highlights their critical role in the life engineering of materials, and envisions their potential to catalyze new paradigms in biomedical applications.