Biological physics

News and Updates

Neutrons Help Measure Cell Membrane Viscosity — and Reveal Its Basis

August 12, 2021

We now have a clearer picture of the lightning-fast molecular dance occurring within the membrane that encloses each cell in our body, revealed in part by

Identifying Individual Molecules: NIST Study Suggests How to Build a Better ‘Nanopore’ Biosensor

April 27, 2021

Researchers have spent more than three decades developing and studying miniature biosensors that can identify single molecules. In five to 10 years, when such

An illustration of a green sphere made of puzzle pieces against a dark background.

Scientists Create Simple Synthetic Cell That Grows and Divides Normally

March 29, 2021

Five years ago, scientists created a single-celled synthetic organism that, with only 473 genes, was the simplest living cell ever known. However, this bacteria

Projects and Programs

Optical medical imaging

The Optical Medical Imaging project was established to advance the application of optical imaging in surgical, clinical, and medical practices. Our goal is to

Medical (Archive): Workshop for Radiobiology Dosimetry Standardization

A program for the development of dosimetry standards for radiobiology was launched through a highly successful workshop. The NIAID/NCI/NIST-sponsored workshop

Label-free imaging of cells and their extracellular matrix by SPR imaging

Metrology For Cell-Free Expression Systems

The Cellular Engineering Group works to provide measurement assurance for more reproducible and comparable cell-free expression systems.

Publications

Nanopore sensing: a physical-chemical approach

September 1, 2021

Author(s)

Joseph W. Robertson, Madhav Ghimire, Joseph Reiner

Protein nanopores have emerged as an important class of sensor, for the understanding of biophysical processes, such as molecular transport across membranes

Portable bioluminescent platform for in vivo monitoring of biological processes in non-transgenic animals

May 11, 2021

Author(s)

Aleksey Yevtodiyenko, Arkadiy Bazhin, Pavlo Khodakivskyi, Aurelien Godinat, Gyslain Budin, Marina Kunchulia, Giorgio Pietramaggiori, Sandra Scherer, Elena Goun, Sergey Polyakov, George P. Eppeldauer

Bioluminescent imaging (BLI) is one of the most powerful and widely used preclinical imaging modalities. However, the current technology relies on the use of

Stray light characterization in a high-resolution imaging spectrometer designed for solar-induced fluorescence

April 22, 2021

Author(s)

David W. Allen, Loren Albert, James Kellner, Yuqin Zong, Katherine Cushman, Luis Alonso

New commercial-off-the-shelf imaging spectrometers promise the combination of high spatial and spectral resolution needed to retrieve solar induced fluorescence

Laser-based temperature control to study the roles of entropy and enthalpy in polymer-nanopore interactions

April 21, 2021

Author(s)

Christopher Angevine, Joseph W. Robertson, Amala Dass, Joseph E. Reiner

Software

NIST's Integrated Colony Enumerator (NICE)

January 4, 2021

Enumeration of bacterial colonies on an agar plate is simple in concept, but automated colony counting is difficult due to variations in colony color, size

Tools and Instruments

Beamline 10: Quantitative Hyperspectral Infrared Microscopy

The new beamline 10, currently under construction, is intended for applications that make use of the super-thermal brightness from SURF in the near- to mid