The biotechnology industry is making significant advances in the areas of biomolecular research for use in new environmentally friendly materials and process technologies. CSTL supports these efforts by developing measurement methods, standards and tools for quality control, as well as standards for calibration of specialized bio-based equipment. In addition, advances in tissue engineering continue to grow rapidly requiring standards to assure the integrity of tissue-engineered products during development, storage or shipment. Biocompatible materials used in the worldwide $50 billion end-use device market account for current annual sales of approximately $1 billion. End-use devices include implants, valves, grafts, pacemakers, bone repair and replacement devices, artificial organs, dental materials, drug-delivery systems, dialysis/separation/filtration systems, and catheters and stents.

Projects in this Area:

       FY 2006

• 3D Molecular Bioimaging Mass Spectrometry
• Depth Profiling of Drug Eluting Stent Coatings with Cluster SIMS
• Infrared Microscopy with a ZnSe Solid Immersion Lens
• Realtime Chemical Bioimaging: Direct Detection of Chemicals (O2) in Biological Samples
• Ultra-High Resolution Structured-Illumination Microscopy
• Vibrational Spectroscopic Characterization of Model Biomembranes

       FY 2005

• In Vivo 3-D Mapping of Nanoparticle Biomarkers in Cells and Tissues
• Temperature-Controlled Cluster SIMS Depth Profiling in Polymeric Materials
• Protein Stability via Speed of Sound and Density Measurements
• Spectrum Generation in NISTMonte