(NIST: Gaithersburg, Maryland) -- Officials from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute recently signed a memorandum of understanding designed to expand significantly the scope of joint research and educational activities in the biosciences between the two institutions.

The new MOU updates an existing relationship between NIST’s chemical science and technology laboratory and the University of Maryland that dates from 1985, when they joined with Montgomery County, Maryland, to establish the Center for Advanced Research in Biotechnology, a joint-research venture emphasizing work on the relationship between structure and function in biomolecules and the development of new technologies for the measurement, analysis, and design of biomolecules.

“Our relationship with CARB over the past two decades has helped us to focus our significant investment in bioscience,” NIST Director William Jeffrey says. “Bioscience is one of the great frontiers of our time, and we look to this partnership to help us meet the challenges of that frontier.”

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