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Projects/Programs

Displaying 176 - 200 of 224

Quantitative, Cell-based Immunofluorescence Assays

Completed
Analysis of signaling events within individual cells with microscopy imaging has several advantages over non-imaging techniques. The principal advantage of imaging cytometry over plate reader assays and even other single cell techniques such as flow cytometry is the potential for collection of...

Quantitative Flow Cytometry Measurements

Ongoing
Flow cytometry is an essential tool for: basic biotechnological and immunological research, the clinical discovery of potential therapeutics, development and approval of drugs and devices, disease diagnosis, and therapeutic treatment and monitoring For example, flow cytometry is commonly used in pre...

Quantitative MRI

Ongoing
Future directions may focus on multimodal imaging, techniques that use MRI as either a base or as a complimentary technique. Multimodal imaging combines information from two or more imaging modalities such as MRI, computed tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET), and ultrasound (US)...

Quantum Bioimaging

Ongoing
Our efforts in BBD are focused on using the quantum nature of light to facilitate enhanced and novel measurement technologies for biological samples. For example, so-called bright squeezed laser sources enable imaging and sensing with less noise than is classically possible. Additionally, entangled...

Quantum State-Resolved Spectroscopic Techniques

Ongoing
Terahertz radiation interrogates the lowest frequency vibrational (phonon) modes of biomolecules. These modes characterize the incipient motions for large-scale conformational changes responsible for the backbone flexibility of protein, polynucleotide and polysaccharide. Thus, terahertz spectral...

Reference Material 8038 H5N1 (Avian Influenza) Synthetic RNA Fragments

Completed
In response to the H5N1 avian influenza outbreak, NIST has developed a Reference Material (RM) for PCR-based assays. This material contains 3 vials with RNA fragments for HA (Part A), NA (Part B), and MP (Part C). The Reference Material Information Sheet (RMIS) for this material contains information...

Resonating Platforms for Microbial, Environmental, and Materials Sensing

Ongoing
The high sensitivity of resonating piezoelectric crystals to surface perturbations has led to quartz crystal microbalances (QCMs) being widely used to measure changes in mass of thin films and adhered nanoparticles or cells. This project proceeds beyond this traditional sensing approach with quartz...

RMAT Laboratory Programs

Ongoing
Examples of Current Activities: Cell Counting and viability are key measurements critical for decision making from R&D to manufacturing. We recently developed an approach for evaluating the quality of cell counting measurements through experimental design and statistical analysis that does not...

RNA Computation and Metrology for Engineering Biology

Ongoing
RNA computation RNA computation, i.e., programmed interactions between RNA molecules that process information, is an increasingly useful synthetic biology tool with applications spanning in vitro biosensing, synthetic cells, and cellular control. We have developed cotranscriptionally encoded RNA...

SARS-CoV-2 Research Grade Test Material

Completed
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Institute of Standards and Technology released a synthetic RNA material for SARS-CoV-2 in June 2020. The goal was to rapidly produce a material to support molecular diagnostic testing applications. This material, referred to as Research Grade Test...

Serology and Neutralization Assays for COVID-19

Ongoing
Multiplexed bead-based SARS-CoV-2 serological assay We have developed a validated multiplexed bead-based SARS-CoV-2 serological assay that measures different antibodies produced by a patient (IgG, IgM, IgA). In collaboration with the NIST Applied and Computational Mathematics Division, we have...

Single-Cell Manipulation and Measurement

Ongoing
Mammalian cells are an important source material for applications in regenerative medicine, gene therapy, engineering biology, and genome editing. Traditional tools for manipulating mammalian cells operate at a bulk cell population level without precision manipulation of individual cells...

Single-molecule biosensors

Ongoing
We are developing new tools to investigate the energy landscape of single-molecule sensors. Our goal is to apply a wide-ranging array of technologies to probe the critical physicochemical properties of nanopore biosensors. These properties include the free energy of confinement for polymers as they...

SMART Contrast Agents

Ongoing
Work on smart agents is focused on developing new micro- and nanoparticle- based contrast agents for MRI and new MR imaging and sensing schemes. These include synthetic antiferromagnet nanoparticles as potential new contrast agents, high-moment iron microparticles for enhanced T2* contrast for in...

Standards Development to Ensure Reliable Breath Analysis in the Field

Ongoing
Numerous volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been identified in human breath. These compounds can be produced by the body or by organisms in the body (e.g., bacteria or viruses) and provide a non-invasive window into human health. Inexpensive point-of-care devices are being developed to diagnose...

Standards for Metagenomics

Ongoing
Metagenomics is a powerful technology combining high-throughput (a.k.a. “next-generation”) sequencing with advanced bioinformatics to identify and quantify mixtures of organisms in a sample. Metagenomics workflows consist of 4 main steps: Sample collection: location, amount, storage, etc. Extraction...

Standards to Support Biological Detection in the Field

Ongoing
NIST is working in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate (DHS S&T) to develop methods, guidance, standards, and reference materials to support and improve our Nation's ability to detect and respond to suspected biothreat incidents. Specific...

Standards to Support Biothreat Detection

Ongoing
Since 9/11 and the subsequent anthrax attacks in 2001, suspicious white powder incidents continue to occur within the US, often requiring Federal law enforcement response. Suspect samples are sent to public health laboratories for confirmatory evaluation, which can take hours to weeks to receive...

Stem Cell Metrology: WSDOM

Ongoing
Stem cells are critical starting materials for advanced therapies and diagnostic devices. The most commonly used are induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) which can be created with any individual’s skin cells, and then can be coaxed to become cells for any tissue of the body. Therapies and...
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