A large part of our effort is devoted to investigating the emerging field of hybrid inorganic-cellulose nanocomposite materials. Cellulose, being the most abundant renewable polymer available today, plays important roles in biological systems, for examples, as structural reinforcement in higher plants, as filters in tunicates and as UV protector in bacterial cellulose. Nanocrystalline cellulose has garnered a tremendous level of attention in the materials community because of its unsurpassed properties including its hierarchical porous structure, chiral nematic arrangement, superior specific strength, water-holding capacity, optical transparency, low thermal expansion, biocompatibility and ease of chemical modification, in additional to renewability and biodegradability. In nature, cellulose bio-nanocomposites are exclusively hierarchical materials with exceptional mechanical properties due to a functional adaptation of the structure at all levels of hierarchy. Assembling nanocrystalline cellulose and functional inorganic solid affords design of novel hybrids that can exhibit the functionality of both inorganic and cellulosic materials. Our research focuses on following areas: 1. Investigation into the self-assembly of inorganic-cellulose nanocomposites towards an ultimate goal of functional nanocomposites design 2. Bio-inspired assembly of functional hybrid nanocomposites