Biofunctionalization for a wide variety of applications can be achieved by coating silica surfaces with biomolecules such as lipids or proteins. However, specific surface optimization of the inorganic SiO2 is necessary to achieve biocompatible surfaces. Surface shielded porous silica beads can be non-covalently coated with a single lipid bilayer The lipids retain their fluidity in this handy solid-supported system, perfectly mimicking the soft-surface properties of cellular membranes. A supramolecular architecture can also be used for functional immobilization of membrane proteins: An artificial cytosolic compartment can be created with the aid of polymers; coating by lipid membranes and integration of membrane proteins results in a solid-supported biofunctional cellular surface. Another surface modification enables a direct immobilization of human serum albumin (HSA) molecules onto silica surfaces. The HSA on this otherwise passivated surface provides a convenient material for the investigation of unspecific protein binding of pharmaceuticals on a high-throughput scale.