Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

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.

Projects/Programs

Displaying 1 - 21 of 21

RM 8376 Microbial Pathogen DNA Standards for Detection and Identification

Ongoing
RM 8376 consists of 20 individual gDNA components from 19 bacterial strains and 1 human reference genome. Its purpose is to enable developers and regulators to evaluate the analytical performance of metagenomic next generation sequencing (mNGS) tools. The material is certified for chromosomal copy

Biosecurity for Synthetic Nucleic Acid Sequences

Ongoing
Emerging biotechnology, enabled by the ability to genetically engineer biological systems similar to the way we write software and program computers, can provide solutions to many pressing societal needs related to health, food security, supply chain resilience, and job growth for economic and

Biosurveillance and Pathogen Detection

Ongoing
NIST has established partnerships with other federal agencies to develop standards and measurement solutions to support biosurveillance. These efforts are supported in part through interagency agreements with partner agencies listed below to address their standards needs. PROGRAMS Standards for

Cancer Biomarker Measurements and Collaborations

Ongoing
Collaborations and Cooperative Research Agreements We welcome collaborations and can help with assay validation and development of reference materials. Below are some examples of our collaborations and ways we can develop test materials. Early Detection Research Network (EDRN): Interagency agreement

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 Line Authentication

Ongoing
Cell Line Authentication – The scientific community has responded to the misidentification of human cell lines with validated methods to authenticate these cells; however, there are few assays available for nonhuman cell line identification. We have developed multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR

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

Genome in a Bottle

Ongoing
Consortium goals: The Genome in a Bottle Consortium is a public-private-academic consortium hosted by NIST to develop the technical infrastructure (reference standards, reference methods, and reference data) to enable translation of whole human genome sequencing to clinical practice and innovations

Measuring Antimicrobial Resistance

Ongoing
Antibiotic resistance has been identified in the Nation’s Action Plan to improve the health and wellbeing of the American people. NIST scientists are leveraging a wide range of measurement capabilities to study microbial community dynamics with regard to antimicrobial resistance. Using a range of

Microbial Genomic Measurements

Completed
The RM 8375 is a stable and homogeneous material whose intended use is whole genome sequencing quality control and proficiency testing. The genomic DNA is intended to be analyzed in the same way as any other sample a laboratory would analyze extracted DNA, such as through the use of genome assembly

NIST/EDRN Cancer Biomarker Collaboration

Completed
Our lab is one of the EDRN Biomarker Reference Laboratories working with the EDRN discovery labs to improve the quality of the measurements done on new cancer biomarkers for early detection of cancer and for cancer risk. TECHNICAL APPROACH Evaluate current assays used for detection of cancer

NIST Genome Editing Consortium

Ongoing
Targeted genome editing, a method used to alter the DNA of living cells at desired locations, is poised to revolutionize science and medicine. To fight diseases, novel genome edited therapeutics, including those for use in regenerative medicine and infectious diseases, are being developed. Many

NIST Genome Editing Program

Ongoing
For genome editing systems to reach their full potential in research and commercial products, new measurement tools, capabilities, and standards must be developed to efficiently implement and assess the performance of these editing technologies, as well as to evaluate the utility of resulting

NIST Rapid Microbial Testing Methods Consortium

Ongoing
The safety and quality of advanced therapies, including cell therapy, gene therapy, and tissue engineered products, must be maintained prior to patient administration. The culture-based compendial methods currently used to assess product purity (specifically to ensure absence of microbial

Ontologies and Interoperability in Evolutionary Comparative Analysis

Completed
Intended impact Nearly all scientists who regularly use online resources on genes, proteins and genomes make use of comparative data to advance biomedical research. For instance, researchers often make useful inferences by comparing human genes (as well as proteins, reactions, interactions, pathways

Pathogen Detection and Identification: The Next Generation of Analyses

Ongoing
Human disease resulting from pathogens represents a tremendous burden on the health care system. Many hospitals have adopted new, rapid polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based detection systems because the time to diagnose and begin effective treatment has a direct impact on patient survival and

RNA Computation and Metrology for Engineering Biology

Ongoing
RNA computation RNA computation, i.e., programmed interactions between RNA molecules that process information, is an increasingly useful synthetic biology tool with applications spanning in vitro biosensing, synthetic cells, and cellular control. We have developed cotranscriptionally encoded RNA