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Material Measurement Laboratory

Biomolecular Measurement Division

News and Updates

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A Solution to a Hairy Problem in Forensic Science

November 5, 2019

In an effort to make hair comparison a more useful technique for investigating crimes, scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)...

A woman with goggles prepares a sample near a large instrument.

How Milk Does an Animal Body Good

May 7, 2019

It has been called the world’s most perfect food, and there’s unequivocal evidence that it can fight off disease and build better baby brains. But even after...

An illustration of a small particle is placed next to an illustration of polystyrene spheres.

Want to Avoid Problems in Powerful New Drugs? Ask a Roofer.

February 28, 2019

Understanding how proteins clump together is essential in modern pharmaceuticals. When these tiny particles aggregate, they can alter the effectiveness of both...

NIST 2D NMR ‘Fingerprinting’ Study Gives Biopharmaceutical Sector New Power to Assure High Quality Monoclonal Antibody Therapeutics

December 20, 2018

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently completed a large international study * that establishes two-dimensional...

NIST Updates Forensic Standard Reference Materials

September 19, 2018

At forensic science labs, analysts literally weigh the evidence. They also measure it in other ways. They use microscopes, DNA profiling kits, chemical...

New Cell Lines Produce NIST Monoclonal Antibody for Improved Manufacturing of Biologic Drugs

July 31, 2018

When the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) issued the world’s first standardized monoclonal antibody (mAb) in July 2016, the exhaustively...

NIST Builds Statistical Foundation for Next-Generation Forensic DNA Profiling

July 23, 2018

DNA is often considered the most reliable form of forensic evidence, and this reputation is based on the way DNA experts use statistics. When they compare...

A graph with vertical lines showing the mass spectrum of fentanyl

Free Software Can Help Spot New Forms of Fentanyl and Other Illegal Drugs

March 7, 2018

Fentanyl, the synthetic drug that is driving a nationwide overdose epidemic, is not only a killer. It’s also a shape shifter. Illicit chemists are constantly...

A close-up view of cells that have been labelled with fluorophores in blue, green, red and orange to highlight composition.

CHO and Tell

February 22, 2018

Although few people realize it, modern medicine relies heavily on the ovarian cells of Chinese hamsters, not as a direct cure, but rather as a way to engineer...

Illustration of 5 roundish objects of purple and blue arranged in a circle

NIST Standard Story: Matters of the Heart

September 20, 2017

NIST scientists have thoroughly measured and characterized more than 1,300 physical products, NIST Standard Reference Materials ®, to help people in industry...

New NIST Tool Aims to Improve Accuracy of Test to Determine Cardiovascular Disease Risk

September 19, 2017

Cardiovascular disease caused one out of three deaths in the United States in 2016, and for decades it has been the leading killer for both men and women...

Woman uses gas analysis mass spectrometer at NBS for chemical analysis of gas or vapor mixtures

NIST Upgrades Widely Used Database of Molecular 'Fingerprints'

June 6, 2017

When scientists need to identify an unknown compound, they do what a police detective might do. They get fingerprints—in this case, the “molecular fingerprints”...

NIST Research Enables Enhanced DNA “Fingerprints”

December 15, 2016

As the new year approaches, forensic labs across the country are gearing up for a big change in the way they generate DNA profiles, the genetic fingerprints so...

An Extraordinary Standard: New NIST Protein Could Spur Biopharmaceutical Innovation

July 28, 2016

GAITHERSBURG, Md.—The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued one of the world's most intricate measurement standards: an exhaustively...

NISTmAb: Portrait of an "Anchor Molecule"

July 28, 2016

Companies will continue to generate and maintain their own in-house standards for each specific monoclonal antibody therapeutic drugs, but the new NIST...

New Model May Help Solve the Mystery of How Lithium Stabilizes Moods

July 27, 2016

New measurements may have lifted the veil on the vexingly elusive interactions through which lithium can moderate the manic highs and debilitating lows...

When efavirenz binds to CYP46A1 at the site shown, it increases the flexibility of the protein in the region around cholesterol.

Shape-Changing Enzyme Suggests How Small Doses of Anti-HIV Drug Might Treat Alzheimer's Disease

June 28, 2016

For a promising pathway to treating Alzheimer's patients, "aim here." That's what National Institute of Standards of Technology (NIST) researchers advised...

NIST Forensic Scientist Helps Vietnamese Counterparts Identify Wartime Remains

May 18, 2016

In a Hanoi, Vietnam, hotel conference room, Mike Coble led a group of scientists through a series of calculations. Coble's presentation was heavy on the...

New Experimental Test Detects Signs of Lyme Disease Near Time of Infection

February 11, 2016

When it comes to early diagnosis of Lyme disease, the insidious tick-borne illness that afflicts about 300,000 Americans annually, finding the proverbial needle...

Image of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor

Assessing the Biosimilarity of Protein Drugs: New Study Shows Method's Precision at Atomic Resolution

February 5, 2016

A first-ever interlaboratory study of four versions of a therapeutic protein drug—all manufactured from living cells—reports that an established analytical tool...

NIST Develops NMR 'Fingerprinting' for Monoclonal Antibodies

April 14, 2015

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers at the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR) have demonstrated the most...

Ensuring Quality: NIST Suggests New Purity Test for Biotech Products

December 2, 2014

To avoid contaminating their experiments, biomedical researchers want to know that the scientific products they buy are pure. But how pure does something need...

Latest NIST Mass Spectral Library: Expanded Coverage, Features

July 29, 2014

The world's most widely used and trusted resource for identifying mass spectra, the "fingerprints" of molecules, has undergone a major expansion, according to...

Immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody molecule with glycan attached. Inset shows glycan structure.

New NIST Web Tool Makes Working with Glycan Sugars a Lot Sweeter

July 11, 2014

When researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) need a special tool to do their work more effectively, they often prove that...

Capillary Device Significantly Improves Manufacture of Quality Liposomes

May 20, 2014

When the English author Sir Francis Bacon wrote "The world's a bubble" in 1629, it's a safe bet he wasn't thinking about microfluidics. However, for a research...

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