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.
Rebecca S. Pugh (Fed)
Supervisory Research Biologist
Rebecca has been a research biologist with NIST since 1998 and is currently the Leader of the Biospecimen Science Group, in the Chemical Sciences Division, and is located at the multi-institution Hollings Marine Laboratory (HML), Charleston, SC. Rebecca is responsible for the oversight and day-to-day operations of a national cryogenic biobanking facility, the NIST Biorepository as well as the Cryogenic Reference Material Production Facility. Activities include project operations and management, strategic planning, technology transfer, and infrastructure planning. She has been involved in the collection, processing, and archival of marine biological and environmental specimens archived at the NIST Biorepository and has helped to develop standard operating procedures (SOPs) and protocols for specimen banking under clean room conditions and contaminant sampling. She also has expertise in the development of SOPs and production of reference materials and Standard Reference Materials (SRMs) under cryogenic conditions.
Since 1999 Rebecca has been an active member of the International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER) and is currently the ISBER Secretary (2023-2025). She has previously served as Council Member/Board of Director, co-chair of the Enviro-Bio Working Group, served on multiple Scientific Program Planning Committees, and was a member of the Education and Training Committee. She also contributed to and served as associate editor on several editions of the ISBER Best Practices for Repositories publication. She also represents NIST as a member of International Environmental Specimen Bank (IESB) community and the U.S. Interagency Working Group on Scientific Collections (Committee of the Science of the National Science and Technology Council, Office of Science and Technology Policy). She has authored or co-authored 25 reports under the NIST Internal Report Series and 40+ peer-reviewed publications and has presented work and conducted workshops at several national and international conferences.
Professional Awards and Recognition
2008 → International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER) Special Service Award
2011 → International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER) Special Service Award
2012 → U.S. Department of Commerce Bronze Medal Award for Superior Federal Service: For developing a chain-of-custody biorepository program to support NOAA's Natural Resources Damage Assessment of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
2013 → 2013 Challenges @ NIST Competition: Marine Sample and Tracking and Analytical Reporting Database
2015 → NIST Foundations of Leadership Program, Class XIII (2014-2015)
Membership and Professional Activities
- International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER) Council Member/Board of Director, 2008-2015
- Biopreservation and Biobanking Journal, Editorial Board, 2009-Present
- International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER) Member, 1999-Present
- Agency Representative for the U.S. Interagency Working Group on Scientific Collections, 2014-Present
- Hollings Marine Laboratory Science Board, Alternate Member, 2015-Present
- Hollings Marine Laboratory Science Board Chair, 2023-2024
- International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER) Secretary, 2023-2025