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Projects/Programs

Displaying 1 - 25 of 57

Biofabrication of Tissue Engineered Constructs

Ongoing
OCT imaging was assessed using a model scaffold-cell system consisting of a polysaccharide-based hydrogel seeded with human Jurkat cells. Four test systems were used: hydrogel seeded with live cells, hydrogel seeded with heat-shocked or fixed dead cells and hydrogel without any cells. Time series

Bioimaging

Completed
Imaging and image analysis are used ubiquitously in biological and biomedical research. One of the great advantages of imaging is its intuitive information content; much can be learned from just a glance at the data. On the other hand, these data generally contain a very large amount of untapped

Bioprocessing Laboratory

Ongoing
Current Capabilities Computer controlled liquid nitrogen biostorage system Two culture areas including 4 monitored CO2 incubators 2 Six-foot BSLII biosafety cabinets Measurements- cell count and concentration, STR typing, flow cytometry, cell volume size distribution, conventional transmission and

Building Measurement Confidence for Cell Characterization

Ongoing
NIST collaborates with key stakeholders in industry, other government agencies, and academia to develop measurement assurance strategies and advanced measurement capabilities for cell characterization. Data and concepts developed through workshops and laboratory programs inform the development of

Cancer Genome in a Bottle

Ongoing
Goals: This project is an extension of the Genome in a Bottle Consortium to develop the technical infrastructure (reference standards, reference methods, and reference data) to enable translation of cancer genome sequencing to clinical practice and innovations in technologies. The priority of GIAB

Cell Viability for Advanced Therapies

Ongoing
In the Biosystems and Biomaterials Division at NIST, we have established several technical programs to support the development and implementation of cell viability assays in advanced therapies. These programs address key needs in cell viability assay development including selection and development

Cell-based Assay for Mechanistically-based Prediction of Cytoxicity

Completed
Ricin is a type 2 ribosome inactivating protein (RIP) belonging to the A-B family of toxins and is of particular interest because of its potential use as a biological weapon and the dearth of rapid and sensitive assays that could assist detection and decontamination. The ricin toxin inhibits protein

Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell line authentication

Ongoing
Intended impact To develop a PCR based multiplex assay that can be used to authenticate Chinese hamster ovary cell lines which are important in the production of biological therapeutics. Objectives Identify tetranucleotide STR markers by searching the CHO genome using BLAST Design and optimize a

Comparative Mammalian Proteome Aggregator Resource (CoMPARe) Program

Ongoing
Comparative proteomics strives to gain insight into key underlying molecular changes that result in unique phenotypes across related taxa. Proteomic analysis complements comparative genomics by providing evidence of protein abundance, orthogonal to gene copy number and amount of transcript. To

Comparative Serum Proteomics Project

Ongoing
State-of-the-art biomolecular analysis is no longer limited to model organisms and is becoming routine in non-model organisms. Major drivers of this emerging bioanalytical capacity include increasing accessibility and quality of sequenced genomes as well as high-resolution fast-duty cycle mass

Controlling Microfluidic Cell Cultures

Completed
Intended impact: Cell behavior is powerfully modulated by local extracellular cues. However, the number of parameters that affect cell behavior is large, and include soluble signaling molecules, dissolved gases, the chemistry and mechanics of the extracellular matrix, and the proximity and behavior

Development of Biomarker-based Systems for Cancer Detection and Therapy

Completed
Intended impact Although significant progress has been made in both the understanding and treatment of cancer during the last thirty years, it remains the second leading cause of death in the US. The cancer community has set a goal to eliminate cancer-related suffering and death by 2015. To achieve

Development of Enhanced mRNA Amplification Using Microfluidics

Completed
Intended Impact Tissue samples frequently contain multiple cell types. New methods (e.g. laser capture microdissection) enable the segregation of small quantities of individual cells and cell types, but the current methods to analyze global gene expression do not provide highly efficient profiling

Development of the NIST Prototype Advanced Biometrology Laboratory

Ongoing
Currently, NIST is investing in a new type of metrology laboratory that is focused on the unique reference material and high quality assay protocols that are needed in the regenerative medicine and biotechnology communities. The laboratory design is centered on automation that can set up 1000’s of

Ecogenotoxicity Measurements of Nanoparticles

Completed
Intended Impact Understanding the potential environmental fate of NPs has direct implications to the US economy, as potential environmental and human health impacts of NPs is one of the main factors slowing the commercialization of this technology. Reducing the uncertainty regarding the

Engineering of G Protein-Coupled Receptors

Ongoing
A trait of all life is the ability to sense and respond to changing environments, and the largest family of eukaryotic proteins that sense and respond to extracellular signals are called G Protein-Coupled Receptors (GPCRs). In humans, over 800 GPCRs detect a wide range of biological and chemical

Evaluating Measurement Quality of Microfluidic Cell-based Assays

Completed
Impact and Customers Our work establishes metrics for measurement quality and reproducibility for cell-based assays within microfluidic devices. Many novel microfluidic devices are being created that permit new measurements or enable new biological functions to be tested; however, characterizations

Flow Cytometry Lab

Ongoing
Current Capabilities ERF value assignment measurement service for traceable ERF value assignment to microparticles, Aseptic sorting of cell lines, and primary cells Quantitative measurements of cell surface and intracellular biomarkers by estimating antibody bound per cell Accurate enumeration of

Fluorescence Microscopy Benchmarking: Overview

Completed
A challenge in using microscopy is how to compare and validate data from different instruments, and how to determine that the microscope performance today is the same as yesterday. NIST is developing a practical, automated approach to implementing performance benchmarking methods that will

Fundamental Interaction Mechanisms of Engineered Nanomaterials with DNA

Completed
Intended impact Nanotechnology research has resulted in the rapid creation of engineered nanomaterials with many foreseeable applications in medical imaging/diagnosis and in drug delivery. However, there is a notable scarcity of both acute and chronic human toxicity data for these new materials

Improved Benchtop Connectivity to Complex Microfluidic Devices

Completed
Intended impact Microfluidic devices with many fluidic and pneumatic inlets are difficult to connect to benchtop reservoirs and controllers. Many hours can be spent sorting, untangling, and connecting tubing to a single device. If one then finds that the device is not fully functional, the process