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Witnesses urge a biomeasurement lab at NIST to 'measure what matters' in biology
Summary
Experts told the Senate committee the U.S. lacks the metrology and lab-scale testing infrastructure needed for AI‑driven biology and recommended creating a biomeasurement laboratory at NIST to enable reliable models, reproducibility, and innovation.
Drew Endy, a bioengineering professor and director of the Biostrategy and Leadership initiative at the Hoover Institution, told senators the United States lacks core measurement infrastructure for biology and urged Congress to support a biomeasurement laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). "We could really use [a biomeasurement laboratory]," Endy said, arguing such a facility would let the U.S. "measure what matters" and improve the ability to build reliable biological AI models.
Endy described the experimental scale and rapid prototyping capacity he observed in China and said the U.S. needs comparable systems to test, measure, and iterate biological constructs. He warned that biology's unique properties — self‑replication and complex interactions — make measurement more difficult than in physics or chemistry and require specialized infrastructure.
Senators pressed witnesses on the consequences if China sets global biology standards; Endy said the outcome could shift where core capabilities and intellectual leadership reside. "Magicland will be in China," he said, describing a future in which genetic resources and platform technologies could be repackaged under different terms and conditions.
