Reference materials

News and Updates

Historical newspaper photo shows a large ship in port with a crack down the center, splitting it almost in half.

Spotlight: The Unfortunate Origin of a NIST Metal Toughness Program Still Going Strong

October 19, 2023

A series of catastrophic failures in U.S. ships during World War II prompted the start of a program still in existence and going strong at NIST.

Four small dark glass ampules stand on a lab table, market with skull and crossbones danger icons.

NIST Researchers Develop Standards to Help Eliminate ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Firefighting Foams

September 18, 2023

These foams contain chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that have raised environmental and health concerns.

Pieces of salmon are being fed from a metal holder into the icy opening of a milling machine.

NIST’s Shrimp and Salmon Reference Materials Could Help Combat Seafood Fraud

September 8, 2023

Seafood fraud can happen when fish is incorrectly labeled for consumers as a more expensive variety.

Projects and Programs

Trusted AI framework for a new class of Standard Reference Materials and Data with exquisitely characterized uncertainty for billions of properties

Ongoing

A new collaboration between NIST's Human Genomics Team , Mass Spectrometry Data Center , and Information Technology Laboratory to use and develop artificial

Macromolecular Architectures

Ongoing

There is always a degree of uncertainty surrounding measurements of polymeric materials, especially complex mixtures with varying distributions in chemistry

Epidemiologist in protective suit, mask and glasses works with patient swabs to detect specific region of 2019-nCoV virus causing Covid-19

SARS-CoV-2 Research Grade Test Material

Completed

Microplastic and Nanoplastic Metrology

Ongoing

The mission of the Micro and Nanoplastic (MNP) Metrology Project is to assist regulators in assessing the human health and environmental risks associated with

Publications

Dietary Supplement Laboratory Quality Assurance Program: Exercise 1 Final Report

November 1, 2023

Author(s)

Carolyn Burdette, Hugh Hayes, Jenna Klingsick, Colleen E. Bryan Sallee, Charles Barber, Steven J. Christopher, Lee L. Yu

The DSQAP was launched, in collaboration with the NIH ODS, in 2007. The program was established to enable laboratories to improve the accuracy of measurements

Certification of Standard Reference Material® 2386 Avocado Powder

October 18, 2023

Author(s)

Melissa M. Phillips, Laura Wood, Joseph Browning, George Caceres, Grace Hahm, Mahboubeh Hanaee, Abigail Lee, Karen Murphy, Rabia Oflaz, Rick L. Paul, Benjamin Place, Jeanice "Brown Thomas ", James H. Yen

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently released SRM 2386 Avocado Powder which has value assignment for over 70 analytes. This

The complete sequence of a human Y chromosome

August 23, 2023

Author(s)

Arang Rhie, Sergey Nurk, Monika Cechova, Savannah Hoyt, Dylan Taylor, Nathanael David Olson, Justin Zook, Adam Phillippy

The human Y chromosome has been notoriously difficult to sequence and assemble because of its complex repeat structure that includes long palindromes, tandem

Recommendations for Setting a Criterion for Assessing Commutability of Secondary Calibrator Certified Reference Materials

August 11, 2023

Author(s)

W. Greg Miller, Thomas Keller, Jeffrey Budd, Jesper Johansen, Mauro Panteghini, Neil Greenberg, Vincent Delatour, Ferruccio Ceriotti, Robert Rej, Johanna Camara, Liesbet Deprez, Finlay MacKenzie, Alicia Lyle, Eline van der Hagen, Chris Burns, Pernille Fauskanger, Sverre Sandberg

A secondary higher-order calibrator is required to be commutable with clinical samples to be suitable for use in the calibration hierarchy of an end-user

Reference materials

News and Updates

Spotlight: The Unfortunate Origin of a NIST Metal Toughness Program Still Going Strong

NIST Researchers Develop Standards to Help Eliminate ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Firefighting Foams

NIST’s Shrimp and Salmon Reference Materials Could Help Combat Seafood Fraud

Projects and Programs

Trusted AI framework for a new class of Standard Reference Materials and Data with exquisitely characterized uncertainty for billions of properties

Macromolecular Architectures

SARS-CoV-2 Research Grade Test Material

Microplastic and Nanoplastic Metrology

Publications

Dietary Supplement Laboratory Quality Assurance Program: Exercise 1 Final Report

Certification of Standard Reference Material® 2386 Avocado Powder

The complete sequence of a human Y chromosome

Recommendations for Setting a Criterion for Assessing Commutability of Secondary Calibrator Certified Reference Materials

Tools and Instruments

TESCAN MIRA3 for automated electron microscopy

The Divergent Beam Diffractometer Laboratory

The Parallel Beam Diffractometer (PBD) Laboratory

Apparatus for the Measurement of High Temperature Thermoelectric Transport Properties