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Projects/Programs

Displaying 51 - 75 of 214

Development of Reference Methods and Reference Materials for Proteins

Ongoing
Accuracy and comparability of clinical assays is essential for timely and accurate medical interventions. However, studies have shown that large variations in results can occur among routine clinical assays. A clinical comparison among 14 commercial assay platforms revealed more than 20-fold

Digital PCR

Ongoing
With appropriately validated assays, digital polymerase chain reaction (dPCR) determines the number of DNA targets (copies) per reaction partition, without the need for a standard curve. Reaction partitions can be in the form of fixed chambers in a microfluidic device, referred to as chamber digital

DNA Mixture Interpretation

Ongoing
Interlaboratory Studies Mixture interlaboratory studies provide a means to assess a laboratory's ability to process and interpret DNA mixtures. Initial ‘Mixed Stain’ studies (published in 2001) provided physical samples for DNA profiling with the first commercial STR typing tests. Later, mixture

Ecogenotoxicity Measurements of Nanoparticles

Completed
Intended Impact Understanding the potential environmental fate of NPs has direct implications to the US economy, as potential environmental and human health impacts of NPs is one of the main factors slowing the commercialization of this technology. Reducing the uncertainty regarding the

Electronic Biophysical Measurements

Ongoing
We develop measurements that leverage electronic signal transduction using FETs to maximize sensitivity and improve the resolution of biomolecular measurements. The techniques allow direct charge transduction during molecular interactions to quantify fundamental biophysical processes. Critically the

Engineering Biology Metrics and Technical Standards for the Global Bioeconomy

Ongoing
Stakeholders from the Americas, Asia and Australia, and Europe and Africa, came together through a series of regional workshops in Washington D.C., Singapore, and Brussels, respectively, to identify specific areas for development, both technical and non-technical towards continued scale-up and economic growth across the bioeconomy.

Engineering Living Measurement Systems to Sense PFAS

Ongoing
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS, are thermodynamically stable organic fluorinated chemicals that are resistant to traditional degradation pathways leading to concern for bioaccumulation. These compounds originate from several industrial manufacturing processes and are found in soil systems

Engineering of G Protein-Coupled Receptors

Ongoing
A trait of all life is the ability to sense and respond to changing environments, and the largest family of eukaryotic proteins that sense and respond to extracellular signals are called G Protein-Coupled Receptors (GPCRs). In humans, over 800 GPCRs detect a wide range of biological and chemical

ERCC 2.0: Developing a New Suite of RNA Controls

Completed
Requested RNA Control products include: Transcript isoforms; New and improved messenger RNA mimics and mixture formulations; microRNA and other small RNA molecules; and Cancer fusion transcripts. ERCC technical working groups are developing design specifications, RNA control products, and analysis

Evaluating Measurement Quality of Microfluidic Cell-based Assays

Completed
Impact and Customers Our work establishes metrics for measurement quality and reproducibility for cell-based assays within microfluidic devices. Many novel microfluidic devices are being created that permit new measurements or enable new biological functions to be tested; however, characterizations

Explosives Decomposition Chemistry

Completed
Intended Impact Computational modeling and simulation will help in the invention of new explosives, the design of compounded mixtures of existing materials, and the engineering of delivered systems such as military ordnance. Objective Detailed chemistry is a necessary part of computational

External RNA Controls Consortium

Completed
While early gene expression measurements with DNA microarrays were groundbreaking in their ability to reveal biological activity, the results were irreconcilable and irreproducible. Industry leaders approached the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2003 for help with addressing

Extreme Atom Probe Tomography

Ongoing
Sub-nanometer-resolved 3-D chemical mapping of any atom in any solid continues to be an imperative goal of materials research. If reduced to practice, it would have profound scientific, engineering, and economic impacts on U.S. industries collectively worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Such

Flow Cytometry Lab

Ongoing
Current Capabilities ERF value assignment measurement service for traceable ERF value assignment to microparticles, Aseptic sorting of cell lines, and primary cells Quantitative measurements of cell surface and intracellular biomarkers by estimating antibody bound per cell Accurate enumeration of

Fluid Suspensions and Emulsions

Ongoing
We aim to: Develop measurement capabilities to relate solution structure and viscosity through novel combinations of unique small volume, high shear rate rheometers with scattering and particle-imaging techniques. A major application of these capabilities is understanding self-association in fluids

Fluorescence Microscopy Benchmarking: Overview

Completed
A challenge in using microscopy is how to compare and validate data from different instruments, and how to determine that the microscope performance today is the same as yesterday. NIST is developing a practical, automated approach to implementing performance benchmarking methods that will

Forensic Genetics

Ongoing
Since the late 1980s, NIST has had scientists involved in DNA testing (aka "DNA Fingerprinting"). Early concerns over measurement accuracy and poor quality control of forensic DNA tests caused the Department of Justice to call upon NIST scientists to help with standards development and technology

Fundamental Interaction Mechanisms of Engineered Nanomaterials with DNA

Completed
Intended impact Nanotechnology research has resulted in the rapid creation of engineered nanomaterials with many foreseeable applications in medical imaging/diagnosis and in drug delivery. However, there is a notable scarcity of both acute and chronic human toxicity data for these new materials