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.
Kirsten Parratt (Fed)
Biomedical Engineer
OVERVIEW
Kirsten Parratt, PhD is a Biomedical Engineer in the Biomaterials Group.
Metrology for microbial cell characterization and flow cytometry:
Kirsten leads the development of flow cytometry metrology tools to enable high confidence quantification of microbial cells, including enumeration of total cells, viable cells, and genome copies, in support of NIST Microbial Metrology goals including fostering innovation in Biotechnology and Biosurveillance. Via the development of measurement methods, control strategies, and analysis algorithms, her work supports characterization of microbial materials to challenge quantification and detection workflows, such as E. coli living cell control materials, interlaboratory test samples, and the recently released Human Gut Microbiome RM 8048.
As an expert in microbial cell measurements and flow cytometry, Kirsten co-leads stakeholder engagement efforts focused on evaluating and improving microbial cell counting capabilities (IMMSA Cell Enumeration and Viability Working Group) and expanding characterization of microbial cell reference materials (RMTM Consortium, Working Group 1). She also supports efforts towards standardization of biodetection workflows (ASTM WK83732) and contributes to international metrology efforts (CCQM – CAWG).
Previous work: Kirsten was a NIST-NRC Postdoctoral Research Associate mentored by Nancy J. Lin. The goal of her NRC work was to develop quantitative measurements of adherent microbial communities and biofilm-material interactions. Her graduate dissertation research under Krish Roy focused on using flow cytometry as a high-throughput platform to assay microfabricated biomaterials for stem cell differentiation studies and detection applications.
Research Opportunities: NIST-NRC Postdoctoral Fellowships: 2-year fellowships at NIST for US citizens with ≈ $82,000 salary plus benefits and relocation expenses. Application deadlines are Feb. 1 and Aug. 1 and involve submitting a research proposal. Current opportunities are related to (1) Ground-truth Cell Mixtures for Biomanufacturing, (2) Advanced Methods for Quantifying and Characterizing Microbial Cell Populations, (3) Advancing Standards for Bioproduction and Bioindustrial Manufacturing. kirsten.parratt [at] nist.gov (Contact Kirsten) directly if interested.
Selected PUBLICATIONS
- Parratt K, Newton D, Dunkers J, Dootz J, Hunter M, Logan-Jackson A, Pierce L, Sarkar S, Servetas SL and Lin NJ (2025) Measurement quality metrics to improve absolute microbial cell counting. Front. Microbiol. 16:1631377. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2025.1631377
- Servetas, SL., Parratt, KH., Brinkman, NE., Shanks, OC., Smith, T., Mattson, PJ., Lin, NJ. “Standards to support an enduring capability in wastewater surveillance for public health: Where are we?” Case Studies in Chemical and Environmental Engineering (2022). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266601642200069X
- Lin, NJ., Jackson, SA., Servetas, S., Parratt, K., Dunkers, J., Eskandari, T., Lin-Gibson, S. “Report from the NIST Workshop: Launch of the Rapid Microbial Testing Methods Consortium” (2022). https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/SpecialPublications/NIST.SP.1272.pdf
- Parratt, K.; Jeong, J.; Qiu, P.; Roy, K. 3D Material Cytometry (3DMaC): A Very High-replicate, High-throughput Analytical Method using Microfabricated, Shape-specific, Cell-material Niches. Lab on a Chip, 2017, 17, 2861-2872.