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Bioscience

Overview

NIST provides measurement assurance for the biotechnology industry through the development of quantitative analytical measurement tools for nucleic acids, proteins, metabolites, and cell systems to aid industry in the deployment of innovative biotechnologies and advanced biomaterials.

NIST standards and reference materials underpin advances in bioscience and biotechnology, contributing to human health and the U.S. economy.

NIST provides: 

  • Quantitative measurements
  • Reference materials for quality control
  • Data for benchmarking
  • Leadership and technical advice for U.S. and international standards development efforts

We have specialized expertise in and equipment for measuring biological processes and systems, along with experience in managing the large amounts of data these measurements produce. Our work benefits: 

  • Clinical medicine
  • The biopharmaceutical industry
  • Regulatory agencies
  • The DNA forensics community
  • The mass spectrometry community
  • The synthetic biology industry
  • Equipment manufacturers

The NIST Biofoundry

NIST Living Measurement Systems Foundry
NIST Living Measurement Systems Foundry
The NIST Living Measurement Systems Foundry is enabling reliable, scalable, and safe engineering of cells that can sense and respond in controlled ways for applications such as living therapeutics, environmental remediation, and structured materials fabrication. This automated facility combines high throughput measurements and machine learning to create rapid design-build-test-learn cycles for cellular engineering. For more info: https://go.usa.gov/xmdkw

Key Accomplishments

The Research

Projects & Programs

Genome in a Bottle

Ongoing
Consortium hosted by NIST dedicated to authoritative characterization of benchmark human genomes. Sign up for General GIAB and Analysis Team email lists

Marine Environmental Metabolomics

Ongoing
NIST is developing NMR-based metabolomics for use as a tool to expand research on the impacts of environmental stressors on marine organisms. The novel biology

Additional Resources Links

News

Researchers develop a new type of frequency comb that promises to further boost the accuracy of time keeping

NIST-Led Working Group Developing Standards for Organ-on-a-Chip Research

NIST, Nonprofit Research Consortium to Develop Safety Tools for Synthetic Biology to Defend Against Potential Misuse of AI

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