The team is now in the process of submitting a paper to Proceedings of the National Academy of Science on this work, the abstract follows:

Biomineralization is the process by which living organisms build inorganic mineral-based structures. This process has been of vital interest for over a century, since nature is known to produce mineral architectures, which exhibit superior mechanical strength and other specialized properties. Understanding and mimicking this process is critical to “biomimetic” materials science for inorganic-organic hybrid materials (bio-ceramics), low temperature materials for electronics and semiconductor applications and medical engineering of bone, teeth and cartilage. A large body of literature already exists describing the process, but even the most recent reviews emphasize on the diversity of biominerals than the shared underlying mechanisms. Yet in order to understand the fundamental processes leading to biomineralization, we must first focus on the phenomena that many systems have in common. Therefore, in this paper we chose to focus on the very early stages, which we feel may initiate the process in most systems.
Biominerals with highly intricate and organized structures are formed under highly regulated biological environments. Based on these environments, biomineralization can be classified as an intracellular, intercellular or extra-cellular process. Here we will focus on the extracellular process only. The extracellular process occurs outside the cell-wall on a matrix of organic macromolecules or proteins, known as the extra cellular matrix (ECM), which controls numerous cell functions and also determines the rate of formation and the orientation of the inorganic crystals. Physiological extracellular mineralization in humans is mostly restricted to bones, teeth and the hypertrophic zones of growth plate cartilage. In other organisms, it can range from egg shells to nacre and other shell fish structures . Pathological instances of ECM mediated calcification are also common. For example, in humans calcification of vascular tissue is a common complication found in diseases like aging, atherosclerosis, and diabetes . Similarly, aviary diseases like mycoplasmosis affects the formation of egg shell layers resulting in reduced egg production. Finding a remedy for these problems requires us to first obtain a fundamental understanding of the mineralization process at the molecular level.