NCI founded the Nanotechnology Characterization Lab (NCL) in 2004, in collaboration with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and National Institute of Standards and Technology, as a public–private partnership. It was founded to advance the science needed to expedite the development of promising nanotech therapies and diagnostics. The NCL’s initial mission was to develop an “Assay Cascade” of scientific tests that would help determine the reproducibility, safety, and efficacy of nanomedicines to facilitate regulatory review. The NCL is the only lab with experience testing the wide variety of platforms used in nanomedicine. Since its founding, the NCL has tested more than 600 unique nanomaterials, including almost every type of nanoparticle used in biomedical research and development (e.g., metallic, liposomes, polymers, proteins, micelles, DNA and RNA nanostructures, carbon nanotubes) with nearly every type of active pharmaceutical ingredient (e.g., small molecules, peptides, proteins, nucleic acids, plasmids).
Frederick
Maryland
2004
