Numerous biochemical mechanisms protect organisms against microbial pathogens. Materials that incorporate active antimicrobial biomolecules could provide a significant advance for self-sanitizing surfaces and decontamination processes. In the present work we have found that the bacteriolytic hydrolase, lysozyme, and the antimicrobial peptide, KSL, will catalyze in vitro mineralization of inorganic oxides from soluble salts. The reaction provides nanoporous particles, 50 to 500 nm in diameter; their size and morphology are influenced by the protein template and precursor solution used in the reaction. The biological activity of the template molecule can be retained when associated with the inorganic oxide matrices. Lysozyme shows remarkable retention of native bactericidal activity and protein structure when associated with silica. Similarly, KSL will promote mineralization reactions in vitro and demonstrates antimicrobial activity in the solid-state composite. In another approach, lysozyme catalyzed reduction of silver anions to form composites of silver nanoparticles and active lysozyme. The composite material could be transferred to stainless steel surfaces using electrodeposition to create an active antimicrobial coating. The silver composite material takes advantage of the antimicrobial effect of the silver metal, as well as the biochemical activity of the template protein.