The use of natural biopolymers in the synthesis of nanomaterials can have a low cost and eco-friendly approach. ZnO nanoparticles synthesized through biological method has been reported to have biomedical applications to control pathogenic microbes as it is cost effective compared to commonly used physical and chemical methods. In this work we would like to report the "bioinspired" synthesis of ZnO nanopowders (ZnO-NPs) using type 1 collagen. Collagen based ZnO NPs (Cl-ZnO NPs) were biophysically characterized by UV-vis Spectroscopy, XRD, FTIR, HR-TEM, EDX and Zeta potential analysis. HR-TEM recorded the presence of hexagonal wurtzite structure of Cl-ZnO NPs with particle size ranged between 20-50 nm. Further, Cl-ZnO NPs exhibited antibacterial and antibiofilm activity against Gram positive Streptococcus mutans, Gram negative Proteus vulgaris and fungi Candida albicans at 75 mu g/ml. Moreover, the cytotoxicity assay demonstrated that the Cl-ZnO NPs was not toxic to murine (RAW 264.7) macrophage cells up to 75 mu g/ml. However, it exhibited cytotoxicity against human liver cancer (HepG2) cells at 75 mu g/ml. The HepG2 cell viability was significantly reduced at 75 mu g/ml. In addition, the ecotoxicity of Cl-ZnO NPs on the freshwater micro crustacean Daphnia longicephala showed no mortality up to 250 mu g/ml. The current study clearly demonstrated that the Cl-ZnO NPs had greater potential for antimicrobial and anticancer activities. (C) 2018 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved.