U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Chemistry

Projects/Programs

Displaying 1 - 25 of 175
A schematic overview showing the distribution of the standardized samples to study participants, the use of standardized protocols for measurements, and standardized reporting of data back to NIST for analysis.

AAPS Interlaboratory Study: Protein Aggregation and Immunogenicity

Ongoing
To ensure the safety and efficacy of protein-based biotherapeutics, manufacturers strive to avoid unwanted immune responses caused by the biotherapeutic. Protein immunogenicity is a complex topic and depends on multiple factors related to the product, patient profile, and treatment. 1 , 2
diagram of lab information management system

Advanced Fluid Characterization - Laboratory Information Management System

Ongoing
Breath sampling of cannabis users. In July 2019, the National Institute of Justice awarded our team funding for a three-year project to provide the chemical foundation for industry to develop a cannabis breathalyzer. We are developing new experimental methods to enhance the clinical, thermodynamic
Photograph depicting IC manufacturing showing glowing squares on a round wafer, with a yellow triangular warning indicator labeled UV.

Advanced IC Interconnects - Process Metrology and Models

Ongoing
Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is increasingly being utilized as a method of depositing the thin (nanometer-scale), conformal layers required for many microelectronics applications, including high - gate dielectric layers, diffusion barrier layers, copper seed layers, and DRAM dielectric layers

Advanced Mass Spectrometry Methods for Trace Detection

Ongoing
Ambient Ionization Mass Spectrometry (AI-MS) AI-MS remains a versatile field enabling direct analysis of samples in situ, requiring minimal or no sample preparation. These platforms are leveraged for the trace detection of organic and inorganic compounds, including, homemade and improvised
Interior view of a long, multistory scientific facility filled with large tubular guides, elevated walkways, and electronic instrumentation.

Advanced Materials Characterization

Ongoing
This program seeks to continually enhance the analytical competence of MML and other major operating units at NIST. Furthermore, the program makes available technical capabilities that U.S. industry and government need in their quest to compete on a global scale through improving methods and
Figure 1

Advanced Microscopy for Trace and Bulk Particle Characterization

Ongoing
The goal of this project is to help develop innovative metrologies and measurement protocols for micro/nano-scale analysis of particles. In this project, state-of-the-art optical and electron-based microscopy are used to conduct research for quantitative and qualitative analysis of chemical
Hexagon containing words “environmental metabolomics” with arrows pointing from the hexagon to each of the following images: coral, shrimp, mussel, microbe, horseshoe crab, plant. The circle figure has waves and a tree faded in the background.

Applications in Metabolomics

Ongoing
The application of metabolomics techniques to systems biology reveals insights into model and non-model organism biology. The natural world contains undiscovered chemicals and mechanisms that can be harnessed by industry to create new biomanufacturing processes and products. Each biological system
Bioman lifecycle

Biomanufacturing Initiative

Ongoing
The objective of the NIST biomanufacturing program is to support US biopharmaceutical industry delivery of high quality and low cost protein drugs around the world. The mission is fulfilled through the development of standards, measurement science, and state of the art tools that support advances in

Biomaterials for Oral Health

Completed
NIST along with its partners has a long commitment to scientific excellence with demonstrated impact in improving the oral health of the public. NIST researchers are leaders in this field and create a community by engaging other researchers, industry, and regulatory agencies to address urgent needs

Building Joint Sealant Service Life Prediction

Ongoing
The primary building sealant problem is that no method exists to provide high quality data for elucidating the relative importance of the k = 4 major weathering factors: X1: temperature, X2: humidity, X3: ultra-violet radiation, and X4: mechanical loading(and interactions) on the change in pre
Image showing a variety of gas tanks with carbon dioxide

Carbon Dioxide Measurements and Reference Materials

Ongoing
CO 2 Reference Materials The Gas Sensing Metrology Group at NIST has a long history of providing reference materials to industry, monitoring communities, and academia. The program began in the 1970’s by developing an initial suite of CO2 primary standard mixtures (PSMs) to support the US Department
CCQM Intercomparisons

CCQM Activities in the Organic Analysis Working Group

Ongoing
The results from these studies will be used to demonstrate the capabilities of participating NMIs for their similar measurement services, and eventually benchmark the appropriate  Calibration and Measurement Capabilities (CMCs) that summarizes this capability.  NIST CMCs that directly support SI

Cell-based Assay for Mechanistically-based Prediction of Cytoxicity

Completed
Ricin is a type 2 ribosome inactivating protein (RIP) belonging to the A-B family of toxins and is of particular interest because of its potential use as a biological weapon and the dearth of rapid and sensitive assays that could assist detection and decontamination. The ricin toxin inhibits protein
Photograph of three Standard Reference Materials of various soil matrices.

Certification of Three Soil SRMs for Inorganic Environmental Measurements

Completed
The three NIST soil SRMs, 2709, 2710 and 2711, have been used worldwide by hundreds of laboratories; combined sales typically exceed 800 units per year. Use of these SRMs provides our customers with tools that are essential for achieving quality assurance in the analysis of contaminant elements in
Microhotplate platform used in developing gas microsensor technology.

Chemical/Biochemical Microsensor Science

Ongoing
Our research is focused on the basic and applied aspects of chemical sensor science and technology in the following areas: The development and evaluation of nanoscale materials, e.g., nanowires and nanotubes, for high-performance chemical sensing of gas-phase species Novel approaches for low-cost
Cannabis Buds

Chemical Foundations for a Cannabis Breathalyzer

Ongoing
NIST's initial work in cannabis science was a series of measurements of the vapor pressure of two important cannabinoids: delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). Our current effort is funded in part by interagency agreements with the National Institute of Justice and by the NIST
Illustration of satellite sensing of sunlight reflected by buildings, roads, water and trees to assess radiative warming of the earth.

Climate Science

Ongoing
This program encompasses multifaceted efforts to advance the metrology of climate science. Projects include: development of ultra-high accuracy optical standards and technologies to determine greenhouse gases (GHGs) concentrations, atmospheric lifetimes, and aerosol radiative forcing development of

Clinical and Forensic Reference Materials

Ongoing
Below is a listing of the reference materials currently produced by the Applied Genetics group. Clinical Diagnostics SRM 2393 - CAG Repeat Length Mutation in Huntington`s Disease SRM 2365 - BK Virus DNA Quantitative Standard SRM 2366a - Cytomegalovirus DNA (Towne Δ147 BAC) for DNA SRM 2367 - JC
Photograph of a unit of SRM 3950 showing a labeled box and two frost covered amber bottles.

Clinical Measurements Quality Assurance Program

Ongoing
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) established the Clinical Measurements Quality Assurance Program (ClinQAP) to support the measurement needs of the clinical community. Participants measure concentrations of marker compounds, contaminants, metabolites in clinical samples (e.g

Combinatorial Approaches to Thin Film Nanomaterials

Completed
The behavior and performance of nanostructured materials and devices are governed by the chemistry and structure of their surfaces and interfaces. However, chemistry-structure-performance relationships in these systems are complex, so hundreds of experiments can be necessary to determine optimal

Comparison of Internet Congestion-Control Algorithms

Completed
Complex systems are generically characterized by a large number of factors and a large number of potential responses, hence statistical questions immediately present themselves as to 1. What should be measured? 2. What experiment design should be used to generate content-full data? 3. How should

A Comparison of WD-EPMA Heterogeneity Testing Procedures

Ongoing
X-ray stage mapping (XSM) can be used to determine the extent of heterogeneity on the micron scale though it is more time consuming and not as accurate as the more rigorous NIST random-point (RP) testing procedure. The objective of this work is to demonstrate the advantage of the latter procedure