Biological physics

News and Updates

Spotlight: Game-Changing Microscopy Technique for Identifying Cancerous Cells

September 3, 2024

Breast-conserving surgery, or lumpectomy, is a treatment for early-stage breast cancer. It’s important for surgeons to remove enough tissue around the tumor to

NIST Researchers Develop a Breakthrough COVID-19 Detection Technology

October 2, 2023

“Only connect” is the most famous line in the British novelist E. M. Forster’s writings. Forster was urging the readers of his book Howard’s End to make

white matter mimic in the bottom half of the artificial cranium

Lessons from an Experimental Brain Phantom

July 12, 2023

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and colleagues have developed a novel, anatomically accurate reference model of the

Projects and Programs

viral vector illustration with RNA seen within the capsid

Gene Delivery Particle Analysis with High-Throughput Light Scattering Microscopy

Ongoing

This project aims to develop light-scattering microscopy methods for rapid, multi-attribute characterization of gene therapy particles at the single particle level. Emerging gene therapy treatments use gene delivery particles, such as viral vectors and non-viral carriers, to cure intractable

Measurement Techniques for Membranes and Membrane Proteins

Ongoing

Use of synthetic cell membrane mimics allow simplification and complete control of a complicated system, and incorporation of selected elements under physiological conditions. We are furthering a technology originally developed at NIST using model lipid membranes supported on surfaces for

State-resolved Spectroscopy of Biomolecules

Ongoing

Terahertz radiation interrogates the lowest frequency vibrational modes of a biomolecule. These modes characterize the incipient motions for large-scale conformational changes responsible for the backbone flexibility of protein, polynucleotide and polysaccharide. Thus, terahertz spectral features

X-ray computed tomography (CT)

Ongoing

As scale lengths get smaller, diffraction becomes increasingly prominent in tomography. The work here develops diffraction tomography for laboratory sources. A new laboratory scale instrument at NIST/Boulder is dedicated to tomography of integrated circuit interconnects. Tomography software written

Publications

Quantifying a light-induced energetic change in bacteriorhodopsin by force spectroscopy

February 7, 2024

Author(s)

David Jacobson, Thomas T. Perkins

Influence of fluorescence lifetime selections and conformational flexibiiliy on brightness of FusionRed variants

February 5, 2024

Author(s)

Srijit Mukherjee, Nancy Douglas, Ralph Jimenez

Excited State Vibrational Dynamics Reveals a Photocycle That Enhances the Photostability of the TagRFP-T Fluorescent Protein

January 28, 2024

Author(s)

Atsushi Yabushita, Ying Kuan Ko, Takayoshi Kobayashi, Izumi Iwakura, Ralph Jimenez

Narrowing Signal Distribution by Adamantane Derivatization for Amino Acid Identification Using α-Hemolysin Nanopore

January 24, 2024

Author(s)

Xiaojun Wei, Dumei Ma, Junlin Ou, Ge Song, Jiawei Guo, Joseph Robertson, Yi Wang, Qian Wang, Chang Liu

Nanopores have demonstrated remarkable sensitivity as biosensors, enabling the sequencing of DNA and RNA at the single-molecule level. The rapid progress in

Software

NIST's Integrated Colony Enumerator (NICE)

January 4, 2021

Enumeration of bacterial colonies on an agar plate is simple in concept, but automated colony counting is difficult due to variations in colony color, size

Tools and Instruments

Beamline 10: Quantitative Hyperspectral Infrared Microscopy

The new beamline 10, currently under construction, is intended for applications that make use of the super-thermal brightness from SURF in the near- to mid