Experts Next Door: How a Public-Private Partnership Benefits the Regenerative Medicine Community

Blue cells with orange centers float on a blue background.

By Catherine (Katie) Zander, a scientific program manager at the Standards Coordinating Body

I’m a scientific program manager at the Standards Coordinating Body (SCB), a private nonprofit organization devoted to advancing standards for regenerative medicine, an emerging field that includes cell therapies, immunotherapies, tissue engineering and other next-generation treatments. Presently, or rather, until the coronavirus intervened, we share office space on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) campus in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

A few months ago, I was searching for experts who worked with organ-on-a-chip systems, which use cells flowing through tiny channels to simulate organs and organ systems, for the SCB-coordinated Microphysiological Systems project, which, among other things, is seeking to create a common vocabulary for describing these devices’ capabilities. I was chatting with the NIST researcher next door. When she asked what I was working on, I told her. She laughed and said, “Well, that’s what I do!” We walked down to her laboratory, and she showed me her work.