NOTICE: Due to a lapse in annual appropriations, most of this website is not being updated. Learn more.
Form submissions will still be accepted but will not receive responses at this time. Sections of this site for programs using non-appropriated funds (such as NVLAP) or those that are excepted from the shutdown (such as CHIPS and NVD) will continue to be updated.
An official website of the United States government
Here’s how you know
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.
Digital polymerase chain reaction (dPCR) methodology has been asserted to be a "potentially primary" analytical approach for assigning DNA concentration. Currently available chamber dPCR (cdPCR) and droplet dPCR (ddPCR) platforms are thought capable of
Nathanael Olson, Senthil Kumar, Stephanie Hao, Winston Timp, Marc L. Salit, O Colin Stine, Hector Corrada Bravo
Background: There are a variety of bioinformatic pipelines and downstream analysis methods for analyzing 16S rRNA marker-gene surveys. However, appropriate assessment datasets and metrics are needed as there is limited guidance to decide between available
The DNA sequencing technologies in use today produce either highly accurate short reads or less-accurate long reads. We report the optimization of circular consensus sequencing (CCS) to improve the accuracy of single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing
Noah Spies, Justin Zook, Marc L. Salit, Arend Sidow
Visual inspection and analysis is integral to quality control, hypothesis generation, methods development and validation of genomic data. The richness and complexity of genomic data necessitates customized visualizations highlighting specific features of
Justin M. Zook, Nathanael D. Olson, Marc L. Salit, Aaron Wenger, Chunlin Xiao, Robert Sebra
Genome In a Bottle (GIAB) is a consortium hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology whose primary objective is the development and characterization of human genomic reference materials. The consortium includes representatives from
Hua-Jun He, Biswajit Das, Megan H. Cleveland, Chen Li, Corinne Camalier, Liang-Chu Liu, Kara L. Norman, Andrew Fellowes, Christopher McEvoy, Steven P. Lund, Jamie L. Almeida, Carolyn R. Steffen, Chris Karlovich, P. M. Williams, Kenneth D. Cole
The National Institute Standard and Technology (NIST) Reference Material RM 8366 was developed to improve the quality of gene copy measurements of EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) and MET (proto-oncogene, receptor tyrosine kinase), important targets
This report documents our evaluation of three digital PCR (dPCR) based methods for estimating the proportion, if any, of single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) in a sample that is believed to be mostly double-stranded DNA (dsDNA). These methods are: 1) a modification
Hua-Jun He, Erica V. Stein, Yves Konigshofer, Thomas Forbes, Farol L. Tomson, Russell Garlick, Emiko Yamada, Tony Godfrey, Toshiya Abe, Koji Tamura, Michael Borges, Michael Goggins, Sandra Elmore, Margaret L. Gulley, Jessica L. Larson, Lando Ringel, Brian C. Haynes, Corinne Camalier, Chris Karlovich, Biswajit Das, P. M. Williams, Aaron Garnett, Anders Stahlberg, Stefan Filges, Lynn Sorbara, Mathew R. Young, Sudhir Srivastava, Kenneth D. Cole
We conducted a multi-laboratory assessment to determine the suitability of a new commercially- available reference material with 40 cancer variants in a background of wild-type DNA at four different variant allele fractions (VAF): 2%, 0.5%, 0.125%, and 0 %
Justin M. Zook, Jennifer H. McDaniel, Marc L. Salit, Nathanael D. Olson, Justin M. Wagner
Benchmark small variant calls are required for developing, optimizing and assessing the performance of sequencing and bioinformatics methods. Here, as part of the Genome in a Bottle (GIAB) Consortium, we apply a reproducible, cloud-based pipeline to
Standardized benchmarking approaches are required to assess the accuracy of variants called from sequence data. Although variant- calling tools and the metrics used to assess their performance continue to improve, important challenges remain. Here, as part
Justin M. Zook, Marc L. Salit, Steve Lincoln, Matthew Lebo
The confirmation of genetic variants identified by next-generation sequencing (NGS) using orthogonal assays (e.g., Sanger sequencing) is standard practice in many laboratories. Published studies have examined this issue, concluding that confirmation of the
Justin M. Zook, Marc L. Salit, Peyton Greenside, Ryan Poplin, Mark DePristo, Madeleine Cule
Copy number variants (CNVs) are an important type of genetic variation and play a causal role in many diseases. However, they are also notoriously difficult to identify accurately from next-generation sequencing (NGS) data. For larger CNVs, genotyping
Erdem Coskun, Pawel Jaruga, Vladimir Vartanian, Onur Erdem, Patricia Egner, John D. Groopman, R. S. Lloyd, Miral M. Dizdar
Dietary exposure to aflatoxin (AFB1) is a significant reason for the incidence of hepatocellular carcinomas globally. AFB1-exposure leads to the formation of AFB1-N7-guanine (AFB1-N7-Gua) and two diastereomers of 8,9-dihydro-8-(2,6-diamino-4-oxo-3,4
Justin M. Zook, Luke Hickey, Benedict Paten, Robert Sebra, Valerie Schneider
There is a pressing need to better represent ethnic diversity with genomic resources and to do so in a way that maximizes utility for people working with the Genome Reference Consortiums human reference genome. That was the theme of a panel discussion
Megan H. Cleveland, Justin M. Zook, Marc L. Salit, Peter M. Vallone
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed reference materials for five human genomes. DNA aliquots are available for purchase and the data, analyses and high- confidence small variant and homozygous reference calls are freely
The 2017 NIST/DHS/FDA Workshop: Standards for Pathogen Detection for Biosurveillance and Clinical Applications brought together subject matter experts from the clinical and biosurveillance communities to discuss standards to support the use of next
David L. Duewer, Margaret C. Kline, Erica L. Romsos, Blaza Toman
The highly multiplexed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays used for forensic human identification perform best when used with an accurately determined quantity of input DNA. To help ensure the reliable performance of these assays, we are developing a
Hua-Jun He, Erica V. Stein, Paul C. DeRose, Kenneth D. Cole
We compared different methods to measure the concentrations of nucleic acids using samples of human genomic DNA (cell line origin), and a synthetic DNA oligonucleotide. NIST Standard Reference Material (SRM) 2082, a pathlength absorbance standard, was used
Justin M. Zook, Fritz Sedlazeck, Andi Dhroso, Justin Paschall
The impact of structural variants (SVs) on a variety of organisms and diseases like cancer has become increasingly evident. Methods for SV detection when studying genomic differences across cells, individuals or populations are being actively developed
Nathanael D. Olson, Justin M. Zook, Jayne B. Morrow, Nancy J. Lin
High sensitivity methods as next generation sequencing and PCR are adversely impacted by organismal and DNA contaminants. Current methods for detecting contaminants in microbial materials (genomic DNA and cultures) are not sensitive enough and require
Neenu Singh, Bryant C. Nelson, Leona D. Scanlan, Erdem Coskun, Pawel Jaruga, Shareen Doak
Some engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) may have the potential to cause damage to the genetic material in living systems. The mechanistic machinery functioning at the cellular/molecular level, in the form of DNA repair processes, has evolved to help
A national workgroup convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified principles and made recommendations for standardizing the description of sequence data contained within the variant file generated during the course of clinical next
As the speed and quality of different analytical platforms increase, it is more common to collect data across multiple biological domains in parallel (i.e., genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics). There is a growing interest in algorithms
Justin M. Zook, Marc L. Salit, Lisa V. Kalman, Mickey Williams, Vivekananda Datta, Jin-Yeong Han
Characterized reference materials (RM) are needed for test development and validation, quality control procedures and proficiency testing to assure the quality of clinical laboratory tests. In this article, we review the development and characterization of
Justin Zook, John G. Cleary, Len Trigg, Francisco De La Vega
To evaluate and compare the performance of variant calling methods and confidence scores, comparisons between a test call set and a "gold standard" need to be carried out. Unfortunately, these comparisons are not straightforward with the current Variant