Biomaterials can now be surface-engineered to drive and control specific bioreactions in vivo and in vitro. Three examples will be presented: (1) surface-immobilized amino acids, peptides and proteins; (2) templates for protein recognition; and (3) surfaces that resist the deposition of biological materials and therefore act in a "stealth" fashion. These surfaces bring new challenges to surface analysis to deal with the molecular complexity, molecular orientation and 2D and 3D organization found on recognition surfaces. Static TOF-SIMS, XPS, IRAS, and AFM are allowing us to glean new information on such surfaces. This overview will highlight progress made in analysis of complex recognition surfaces and demonstrate relationships between surface structure and biological response.