Federal Agencies Will Hold Workshop on Enabling Standards for Nanomaterial Characterization

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will hold an October 8-9, 2008, workshop regarding enabling standards for nanomaterial characterization.  According to the workshop overview, there is an “urgent need” to elevate new protocols and practices for characterizing the physicochemical properties of nanomaterials, and their in vitro and in vivo properties with respect to biological systems, to that of internationally accepted standards to accelerate research, development, risk identification, regulation, and widespread public adoption of nanotechnology. The workshop is intended to address this need on several fronts. Workshop sponsors and contributors include:  ASTM International; Food and Drug Administration (FDA); Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory (NCL) at NCI-Frederick; National Cancer Institute (NCI); National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH); NIST; National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS); and Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI).  The workshop is limited to 100 attendees.