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Bioscience

NIST provides measurement assurance for the biotechnology industry through the development of quantitative analytical measurement tools for nucleic acids, proteins, metabolites, and cell systems to aid industry in the deployment of innovative biotechnologies and advanced biomaterials.

NIST standards and reference materials underpin advances in bioscience and biotechnology, contributing to human health and the U.S. economy.

NIST provides:

Quantitative measurements
Reference materials for quality control
Data for benchmarking
Leadership and technical advice for U.S. and international standards development efforts

We have specialized expertise in and equipment for measuring biological processes and systems, along with experience in managing the large amounts of data these measurements produce. Our work benefits:

Clinical medicine
The biopharmaceutical industry
Regulatory agencies
The DNA forensics community
The mass spectrometry community
The synthetic biology industry
Equipment manufacturers

The NIST Biofoundry

The NIST Living Measurement Systems Foundry is enabling reliable, scalable, and safe engineering of cells that can sense and respond in controlled ways for applications such as living therapeutics, environmental remediation, and structured materials fabrication. This automated facility combines high throughput measurements and machine learning to create rapid design-build-test-learn cycles for cellular engineering. For more info: https://go.usa.gov/xmdkw

Key Accomplishments

DNA reference materials accelerate product development and provide quality assurance to clinical test labs and manufacturers.
NIST expertise in genetic testing supports cancer precision medicine and forensic applications.
The NIST Genome Editing Consortium addresses the measurements and standards needed to increase confidence and lower the risk of using genome editing technologies in research and commercial products.
The NIST monoclonal antibody reference material — the NISTmAb — is used by biopharmaceutical firms for quality assurance and to evaluate new biomanufacturing methods and tools.
Facilities such as the NIST Center for Neutron Research help industry members develop the expertise to use rare neutron scattering tools. Leading biotech companies such as Genentech, Amgen, Regeneron and Pfizer are part of the nSoft consortium, using neutron science to explore protein-based pharmaceuticals produced by living cells.
In addition, NIST provides matched funds to the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL), part of the Manufacturing USA network, and participates in activities of Manufacturing USA’s BioFabUSA, dedicated to advancing regenerative medicine.

The Research

Projects & Programs

DARPA Friend or Foe (FoF) – Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V)

Completed

Vision Validate new measurement platforms for identifying commensal (friend) and pathogenic (foe) microorganisms Goal Provide well-characterized, microbial community reference materials of increasing complexity Approach Start with well-characterized pure cultures and scale up to complex consortia in

Genome in a Bottle

Ongoing

Consortium goals: The Genome in a Bottle Consortium is a public-private-academic consortium hosted by NIST to develop the technical infrastructure (reference standards, reference methods, and reference data) to enable translation of whole human genome sequencing to clinical practice and innovations

Environmental Metabolomics

Ongoing

The application of metabolomics techniques to environmental systems biology offers a promising opportunity to achieve insights into non-model organism biology. Each biological system manifests distinctive challenges that offer insights into criteria important for rigorous study design and method

Protection Against Ionizing Radiation in Extreme Radiation-resistant Microorganisms

Ongoing

Intended impact Ionizing radiation-resistant microorganisms have recently garnered a great deal of attention from scientists seeking to understand the mechanisms underlying the survival abilities of these organisms. Much of the focus has been on mechanisms of cellular repair of radiation-induced DNA

View All Projects/Programs

Additional Resources Links

Publications

The NIST Genome Editing Consortium

The NIST Genome Editing Consortium addresses the measurements and standards needed to increase confidence and lower the risk of utilizing genome editing technologies in research and commercial products.

Learn more.

News

A male researcher in a high-tech medical lab holds up a vial of blue liquid while a female researcher next to him leans in to look at it.

NIST Awards Up to $1.5 Million to Support Development of Regenerative Medicine Standards Curricula

An image of tiny cells highlighted in green, blue and red against a black background.

Now Live: Living Cells Can Be Seen With Infrared Light

SURF student Zainab Altamimi, who wears a hijab, stands in a lab with safety glasses and gloves on as she holds a micropipette in one hand and a vial in the other.

Spotlight: SURF Student Zainab Altamimi Spends Her Summer Researching the Capsules and Tablets in 3D Drug Printing

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Upcoming Events

FORENSICS@NIST 2024

Mon, Nov 18 - Thu, Nov 21 2024

THE MAIN EVENT: NOVEMBER 18-20, 2024 Join us virtually on Monday November 18th - Wednesday November 20th, 2024 to learn