The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has selected gold nanoparticles made by BBInternational (BBI), based in England, as the source of reference materials for preclinical biomedical research. The US agency will use colloidal gold nanoparticles made by BBI to create nanoscale materials for the evaluation and qualification of methodology and instrument performance. This will enable companies involved in research and diagnostics to ensure that their equipment is performing within the required quality-control parameters for the measurement and characterization of nanoparticles. BBInternational makes spherical, mono disperse gold nanoparticles that are widely used in rapid lateral flow assays.