Anne L. Plant
"Measurement of Biological Activity of Cells:
Challenges for research and manufacturing"

Position

Chief
Biosystems and Biomaterials Division
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), USA

Profile

Anne Plant received her Ph.D. from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston Tx in Biochemistry in a program that included biophysics, cell biology, and synthetic chemistry. She was a National Research Council postdoctoral fellow at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC, and then moved to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), focusing on biosensors and biophysics. At NIST she formed a group in Biomolecular Materials primarily to study membrane protein structure/function in model membranes at surfaces, and the application of surface analytical tools to study biomolecular events. These surface analysis tools proved important to the fabrication and understanding of extracellular matrix and the role that mechanical, chemical and topgraphical properties of the ECM have on cell response. This work led to formation of the Cell Systems Science Group. Robust and meaningful quantification of cell response through quantitative cell imaging has been an important component of that research. Currently, her focus is on understanding the sources of biological variability, and theoretical approaches for prediction of complex biological response.

Anne Plant is currently Chief of the Biosystems and Biomaterials Division. She served for a year in the White House office of Science and Technology Policy and is currently the NIST Representative to the NSTC Life Science Sub-Committee. She serves on the NIBIB National Advisory Council for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, Co-chairs ASTM International Committee F04.46 on Standards for Cell Signaling, and is on the Editorial Advisory Board of the journal, Biointerphases. She is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.