News and Updates

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Sierra Miller sits at a desk facing a computer screen.

Spotlight: For Bioinformaticist Sierra Miller, the Scientific Breakthrough Is Hidden in the Data

May 13, 2024

Sometimes, the scientific breakthrough isn’t an “aha” moment in a lab; it’s hidden in the data produced by the experiment.

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

February 16, 2024

The cooperative agreement is the next step in NIST’s fulfillment of the White House Executive Order on Artificial Intelligence.

Illustration shows a gloved hand holding a puzzle piece that fits into the center of a puzzle showing the letter Y.

Researchers Fully Sequence the Y Chromosome for the First Time

August 23, 2023

What was once the final frontier of the human genome — the Y chromosome — has just been mapped out in its entirety.

An illustration of a Scrabble board, including the words "CRISPR," "EDIT," and "TEMPLATE."

Genome Editing Terminology Is Standardized in NIST-Led Effort

August 11, 2022

It’s good to be clear about your intentions, especially if you intend to edit someone’s DNA.

A gloved hand is holding up a small plastic vial labeled "RGTM plasmid."

NIST Develops Genetic Material for Validating Mpox Tests

July 27, 2022

NIST is making the new material freely available to testing laboratories and diagnostic test manufacturers worldwide.

a picture of packaging for NIST SRM 2367JC Virus DNA Quantitative Standard

A NIST Standard for More Accurate Diagnoses of JC Virus

July 19, 2022

A new NIST Standard Reference Material supports the accurate measurement of the amount of a common but potentially dangerous virus in patients. Most of us have

Petri dish holds brown material with several different types of circular microbes.

Spotlight: Going With the Gut for the Future of Health

June 27, 2022

NIST researchers are developing a human gut microbiome reference material.

First Complete Human Genome Poised to Strengthen Genetic Analysis, NIST Study Shows

March 31, 2022

Alongside the newly updated human genome, which fills in long-standing gaps to fully spell out the more than 3 billion letters that compose our genetic code, a

New Benchmark Could Improve Detection of Genetic Variants Linked to Spinal Muscular Atrophy, Other Diseases

February 7, 2022

The stretches of DNA that differ from person to person, called variants, are a major part of what makes us unique, but they can also put us at greater risk of

Megan Cleveland with white lab coat and safety glasses in front of a lab bench with pipettes.

RNA Reference Materials Are Useful for Standardizing COVID-19 Tests, Study Shows

January 20, 2022

Scientists track and monitor the circulation of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, using methods based on a laboratory technique called polymerase

Race Logic: Novel Circuitry Solves a Myriad of Computationally Intensive Problems With a Minimum of Energy

May 11, 2021

From the branching pattern of leaf veins to the variety of interconnected pathways that spread the coronavirus, nature thrives on networks — grids that link the

Spotlight: Putting NIST at the Forefront of Genome Editing

February 23, 2021

We started from the bottom and now we’re here — geneticist and molecular biologist Samantha Maragh brought NIST into a revolution for the biomedical sciences

A large brown seal is in the snow. It has whiskers that look like a beard on a human male.

NIST Helps Expand Genome Sequencing of Marine Mammals

May 7, 2020

Researchers will soon have access to the full genomic sequences for 23 marine mammal species preserved by the National Institute of Standards and Technology

NIST Genome Editing Workshop to Explore Measurement Challenges

April 1, 2019

A workshop on May 3, 2019 on the NIST campus in Gaithersburg, Maryland will explore the measurement and standards needs of members of industry, academia

NIST’s Joint Institute for Metrology in Biology Moves to SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

February 7, 2019

The Joint Institute for Metrology in Biology ( JIMB), founded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Stanford University in 2014, is

NIST Reference Material 8366 for Cancer Biomarker EGFR and MET Measurements now available

June 25, 2018

NIST Reference Material 8366 for cancer biomarkers EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) and MET (proto-oncogene, receptor tyrosine kinase) gene copy number

Artwork shows a hand with tweezers inserting a piece of DNA in a larger strand. The smaller piece has a black and white barcode attached.

From Clipping Scissors to Word Processor

May 7, 2018

Using the gene-editing tool CRISPR to snip at DNA is often akin to using scissors to edit a newspaper article. You can cut out words, but it’s difficult to

Upcoming NIST-FDA Workshop to Shed Light on Current Regulatory Perspectives and Inform Work of NIST Genome Editing Consortium

April 13, 2018

A workshop to take place April 23-24, 2018 on the NIST campus in Gaithersburg, Maryland will explore the measurement and standards needs of stakeholders across

NIST and Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research Help Ensure Accurate Clinical Measurements of HER2 Breast Cancer Gene

August 17, 2016

A new measurement standard developed by the National Institute of Standards of Technology (NIST) has been used successfully by the Frederick National Laboratory

Genomics