The talk will take you through my journey in an interdisciplinary field encompassing a variety of metal-microbe interactions. Many of these studies culminated in the development of technologies for the removal and recovery of metals from ores and water streams. In an effort to seek an answer to the question 'do metal-interacting microbes synthesize nanoparticles?', we pioneered a new approach for microbially-assisted nanomaterials synthesis and assembly. Eventually, concerted efforts were made to develop commercially important products and processes in the areas of medicine, diagnostics, environment and agriculture.