the use of ceramics in biological environments and biomedical applications is of increasing importance, as is the understanding of how biology works with minerals to develop strong materials. this proceedings contains papers that discuss the interface between biology and materials, presented at the proceedings of the 30th international conference on advanced ceramics and composites, january 22-27, 2006, cocoa beach, florida. organized and sponsored by the american ceramic society and the american ceramic societys engineering ceramics division in conjunction with the nuclear and environmental technology division.