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Justyna Zwolak poses for a casual photo outdoors on the NIST campus.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie: A Legacy of Innovation and Empowerment for Women in Science

February 12, 2025

Growing up in a country where the first scientist to win a Nobel Prize was a woman helped inspire a NIST researcher to pursue her career in science.

Peter Beaucage wears safety glasses as he stands in the lab, holding a piece of equipment on display.

Robots and AI Are Working Together to Bring You Better Medicines, Shampoo and More

December 19, 2024

Peter Beaucage

Products you use every day are carefully formulated in a lab. Experts at NIST are now working to revolutionize how those products are made.

A researcher wearing safety gear kneels at the open door of a lab fridge, displaying a tray of samples.

Sinking Our Teeth Into Science: How Biomedical Engineering Can Help Make Us Healthier

August 21, 2024

Robert A. Gutierrez

From safer dental products to tracking the movement of tiny plastics through gut tissues, regenerative medicine can make us healthier.

NIST researchers Elizabeth Strychalski and David Ross program the robotic arm that operates within the box-like structure of the NIST biofoundry.

The Promise of Synthetic Cells: Revolutionary New Drugs, Outer Space Explorers and Pushing Beyond the Limits of Evolution

July 8, 2024

Scientists are getting closer to creating a living cell from scratch. It could help treat diseases or even create life forms that can be better adapted to space.

A spherical, spiky virus is approached on all sides by Y-shaped antibodies.

You Don’t Learn This in School: My Experience as a NIST Summer Intern

June 4, 2024

George Sellers

The most important thing I remember from being a NIST intern last summer is the power of persistence in research.

Thomas Forbes wears safety glasses as he looks at the screen attached to a piece of equipment in the lab.

Your Future Medications Could Be Personalized for You on a 3D Printer

May 28, 2024

Lawrence Goodman

Your future medications could be made on a 3D printer, and a NIST researcher is working to make sure that process is safe.

NIST biomedical engineer Laurie Locascio places a water sample on a highly sensitive, inexpensive "lab-on-a-chip"

One of NIST’s Most Prolific Inventors Is Also Our Director — and She’s Still an Inventor at Heart

May 16, 2024

Before she was the director of NIST, Laurie E. Locascio invented materials that make us healthier.

George Caceres wears safety glasses and a lab coat as he looks at a plastic test tube he is holding.

Measuring Microplastics: To Solve the Problem, We Have to Understand and Measure It

March 18, 2024

George Caceres

My friends sometimes jokingly ask me, “How many microplastics do you think I consumed this week?” Unfortunately, the answer is not zero.

Melinda Kleczynski poses sitting at her desk, with a monitor showing data and graphs behind her.

From Diamonds in Your Computer to Safer Medications, NIST Researchers Look at What’s Next for 2024 and Beyond

December 18, 2023

Our up-and-coming researchers look ahead to 2024 and beyond — and tell us how their work will impact the world.

Jerilyn Izac sits at a lab bench with her hands inside a plastic shield, using a device to draw liquid from a plastic container into a tube.

How Measurement Science Can Help Protect Us From Viruses

October 25, 2023

Jerilyn Izac

Imagine if for the next dangerous virus, we could quickly and easily test everyone’s levels of defenses — known as antibodies.

Several metallic envelopes with NIST labels are displayed with Halloween decorations like cobwebs, skeletons and pumpkins.

There Will Be (Precisely Measured) Blood: A Haunted House Tour Through NIST’s Spookiest Reference Materials

September 28, 2023

Megan King

This spooky season, join us for a haunted house tour of the scariest standard reference materials in our labs.

A medical worker wears gloves as she prepares to swab the nose of a female patient.

Measuring the Accuracy of PCR Tests Can Improve Health Care Beyond COVID-19

September 11, 2023

Robert DeJaco

Many of us have taken a COVID-19 test. But, have you ever wondered, after your sample goes off to a lab, exactly how they arrive at a positive or negative result?

Miral Dizdaroglu wears safety glasses as he poses in the lab next to an open spectrometer, which looks a little like a microwave with extra buttons.

How We Studied DNA Damage in Cooked Food — and What It Might Mean for Our Health

August 24, 2023

Miral Dizdaroglu

When you eat plants or meat, you’re also eating a tiny amount of that plant or animal’s DNA. But what happens to that plant or animal DNA when you cook the food before eating it?

Two people wearing coveralls in a "clean room" lab look up at a disk-shaped object that one of them is holding.

Agents of Contrast, Software Runaway Hit, Our Early Universe: A Sample of Stories on NIST Social Media

August 16, 2023

Riley Wilson

Curious? It’s time to get you caught up on a few of the summer happenings at NIST.

Alshae' Logan-Jackson wears a purple coverall and safety glasses in the lab as she uses tweezers to hold a small white disk.

Protecting People From Plumbing Pathogens Is Personal to Me

July 20, 2023

Alshae’ Logan-Jackson

Pathogens can get into our water through plumbing and are especially dangerous for people with compromised immune systems.

Grace Waters poses smiling in the lab, leaning against a desk with a computer monitor showing data and graphs.

A Summer of Science: NIST Interns’ Stories of Their Time in the Lab

July 20, 2023

From measuring UV light to working on virtual reality software, a summer at NIST is not your average internship.

Illustration shows tiny colored pieces of plastic floating under the surface of the ocean with sunlight shining through.

Small Particles, Big Problem: Measuring Microplastics’ Impact on Fish

June 20, 2023

Meredith Evans Seeley

Viruses are not just a problem for humans. Viruses are common in our oceans and aquatic environments, too.

Justin Zook in a lab surrounded by genetic sequencing machines

Our Human Genes Are Diverse. Our Team Is Helping Create a DNA Reference Library to Reflect That.

May 11, 2023

Justin Zook

To unlock the full potential of genetic testing and related medical research, we need a diverse, global human genome, known as the pangenome.

Melissa Phillips, wearing safety glasses, poses leaning over an open chest freezer, holding a plastic bag of spinach.

Organic, Vegetarian or Carnivore: Whatever You Eat, My Lab Is Working to Keep It Safe

April 24, 2023

Melissa Phillips

The levels of contaminants in our food supply are, generally, decreasing, but we still need to make sure our food is safe. And measuring tiny things (and big things) is what we do best here at NIST.

A person in a baseball cap and face mask stands at a computer surrounded by scientific equipment, including a curving black plastic tube.

NIST Partnership Helps Communities Manage Unknown Dangers in Common Street Drugs

February 28, 2023

Edward Sisco

When you buy a medication at a pharmacy, you know what’s in it. When someone buys street drugs, they have no idea what they’re really getting.

John Kitching leans over a table in the lab, using tweezers to point to part of a chip-scale device in a clear plastic box.

NIST’s Researchers Look Ahead to High-Tech Trends in 2023 and Beyond

December 22, 2022

They study topics that impact all of us, from indoor air quality to cybersecurity.

Ming Zheng stands outside smiling and holding a model of a nanotube made of a lattice of smaller tubes.

To See Life in a Drop of Blood

July 7, 2022

Ming Zheng

A NIST researcher shares his excitement about the promise of a hybrid molecule that can detect disease.

Yellowish blades of kelp are growing under the surface of the water.

Improving Recycling, Tracking Mercury and Analyzing Kelp: A Sample of Eco-Friendly Research Featured on NIST Social Media

June 8, 2022

Riley Wilson

Preserving our planet's health is no small feat, and NIST researchers are tackling the challenge from multiple angles.

Colorized micrograph shows cells with pink centers and turquoise edges on a black background.

How Henrietta Lacks Changed My View of Human Cells as a Physicist

May 27, 2022

Greta Babakhanova

A NIST researcher has developed a whole different kind of appreciation for her samples.

Historical photo shows two rows of women working at long tables.

New Jersey’s ‘Radium Girls’ and the NIST-Trained Scientist Who Came to Their Aid

March 7, 2022

Ron Cowen

Radiation expert and historian Bert Coursey, who has worked at NIST for 50 years, writes extensively on the history of radium and radiation standards. He recently reviewed NIST’s connection with the radium dial workers — notably the role of one heroic woman — in the Journal of Research of the

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