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Hub Overview
Greater Washington is where U.S. nanotechnology meets federal standards, measurement, and regulation. The anchor is NIST in Gaithersburg, whose Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology runs the open-access NanoFab cleanroom that outside companies and labs can book directly, plus a NanoLab building next-generation measurement tools. The University of Maryland adds academic fabrication through its Maryland NanoCenter and FabLab in College Park, while NIH and FDA in the nearby suburbs give the region unusual depth in nanomedicine and nanomaterial regulatory science.
The region splits along clear lines. Washington, DC concentrates policy, scientific associations, and federal program offices rather than benchtop labs. The Maryland suburbs of Gaithersburg, Bethesda, Silver Spring, and College Park hold the NIST, NIH, FDA, and University of Maryland facilities where the physical research happens. Northern Virginia adds George Mason University and a dense defense and contract research base. For a visiting researcher, the District is where funding, standards, and meetings sit, and the Maryland suburbs are where the cleanrooms and collaborators are.
Research Map
Locations of nanotechnology research labs and companies across the Greater Washington DC area. Click any marker for the institution’s profile and to find hotels nearby.
Research lab
Company
Key Institutions
University of Maryland
4 nano groups
Maryland Nanocenter
2 nano groups
US Army Research Laboratory
1 nano group
National Nanotechnology Initiative
1 nano group
Air Force Office of Scientific Research
1 nano group
Defense Advanced Research Projects
1 nano group
George Mason University
1 nano group
Frederick National Laboratory
1 nano group
Center for Nanoscale
1 nano group
Nanotechnology Research of
1 nano group
US Food and Drug Administration
1 nano group
American National Standards
1 nano group
George Washington University
1 nano group
Georgetown University
1 nano group
Nanotechnology Panel of
1 nano group
US Naval Research Lab
1 nano group
American Chemical Society
1 nano group
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
1 nano group
Research Labs & Groups
The following nanotechnology research groups and labs are based in the Greater Washington DC area.
Adelphi
Lab
Adelphi
The US Army Research Laboratory, headquartered at the Adelphi Laboratory Center, is the Army foundational research laboratory, with active programs in nanomaterials, nanoelectronics, energy materials and sensors.
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Alexandria
Lab
Alexandria
This is a good source of basic nanotech information. Following links from the homepage, one finds a listing of NNI centers and funding opportunities for academics and startups
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Arlington
Lab
Arlington
Invests in basic research efforts for the Air Force in relevant scientific areas.
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Lab
Arlington
DARPA is the central research and development organization for the Department of Defense. It manages and directs selected basic and applied research and development projects for DoD, and pursues research and technology where risk and payoff are both very high and where success may provide dramatic advances for traditional military roles and missions. DARPA manages a number of nanotechnology projects.
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College Park
University
College Park
Maryland NanoCenter has been established as a partnership among three University of Maryland colleges: The A. James Clark School of Engineering, the College of Computer, Math, and Physical Sciences (CMPS), and the College of Chemical and Life Sciences, with sustaining support from all three and the campus.
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University
College Park
To meet the rapidly growing interest of students in nano, and to create the nano workforce of the future, Maryland NanoCenter offers an innovative undergraduate program, the Interdisciplinary Minor Program in Nanoscale Science and Technology, drawing faculty and courses from multiple departments of the A. James Clark School of Engineering, the College of Computer, Math, and Physical Sciences, and the College of Chemical and Life Sciences. The program is open to any student majoring in Engineering, Physics, or Chemistry.
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University
College Park
The Center for Superconductivity Research has been merged with Condensed Matter Physics to create a new collaborative entity known as the Center for Nanophysics and Advanced Materials (CNAM). The CNAM is dedicated to advancing science and technology in the important areas of nanophysics and novel electronic materials.
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University
College Park
The group seeks to understand how molecules and nanoparticles assemble spontaneously at the nano-micro scales. The work gives insights into the design and function of biomolecular structures. Moreover, they develop rules for the design of new types of fluids and materials that could be useful in consumer products, oil recovery, drug delivery and nanotechnology.
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University
College Park
The group's research is centered on techniques for fabricating and characterizing nanometer scale structures, in directing their rapid self-assembly and in using nanometer scale structures to enhance the efficiency of devices which involve their interaction with light.
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Fairfax
University
Fairfax
The Mason Nanotechnology Initiative opens a space for discussion and planning of activities related to nanoscience and nanotechnology within Mason. The efforts target the development of new academic programs within the university that contain a strong component of subjects in science, mathematics and engineering, which are fundamental to nanoscience and nanotechnology.
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Frederick
Lab
Frederick
The Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory provides preclinical physicochemical, in vitro and in vivo characterization of nanomedicine formulations to speed the clinical translation of cancer nanotherapeutics, vaccines and diagnostics.
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Gaithersburg
Lab
Gaithersburg
The Center consists of a Research Program and the Nanofab, a shared-use facility providing economical access to state-of-the-art nanofabrication and nano-measurement tools.
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Lab
Gaithersburg
JILA is an institute for interdisciplinary research and graduate education in the physical sciences, operated jointly by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado at Boulder, and involving NIST Quantum Physics Division 848 researchers. These NIST scientists participate in a variety of nanotechnology activities, several of which are summarized here
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Rockville
University
Rockville
The mission of IBBR is to leverage collective research strengths of the partnering Institutions in medicine, biosciences, technology, quantitative sciences and engineering, to develop integrated, cross-disciplinary team approaches to scientific discovery and education and to serve the expanding economic base of biosciences and technology in the state of Maryland and the Nation.
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Silver Spring
Lab
Silver Spring
The US Food and Drug Administration regulates a wide range of products, including foods, cosmetics, drugs, devices, and veterinary products, some of which may utilize nanotechnology or contain nanomaterials.
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Washington
Lab
Washington
The American National Standards Institute's Nanotechnology Standards Panel serves as the cross-sector coordinating body for the purposes of facilitating the development of standards in the area of nanotechnology including, but not limited to, nomenclature/terminology; materials properties; and testing, measurement and characterization procedures.
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University
Washington
The focus of research of this group is the synthesis, study and application of solid-state inorganic materials with technologically significant magnetic, electrical, optical, electrochemical or catalytic properties. Of particular interest are nanoscale (1 - 20 nm diameter) materials.
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University
Washington
The Institute for Soft Matter Synthesis and Metrology supports research and shared facilities in soft matter, polymers and nanoparticle synthesis and metrology, in partnership with NIST.
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Lab
Washington
The American Chemistry Council's Nanotechnology Panel is composed of companies engaged in the production, distribution, and/or use of chemicals with business interests in the products and applications of nanotechnology. The Panel is actively involved in advocating the use of information and the completion of research on nanomaterials that facilitate understanding and manage the health and environmental issues associated with nanoscale materials.
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Washington DC
Lab
Washington DC
The Society's Committee on Chemical safety provides guidelines and references for handling nanomaterials.
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Lab
Washington DC
NIOSH is the leading U.S. federal agency conducting research and providing guidance on the occupational safety and health implications and applications of nanotechnology.
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Nanotech Companies
Commercial nanotechnology companies based in the Greater Washington DC area.
Products
Beltsville
Metrology and failure analysis tools. The company serves nanotechnology R&D markets, semiconductor labs for failure analysis and electrical characterization, and wafer labs for process control metrology.
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Products
Fairfax
Provides innovative solutions in materials science based on nanocrystalline metals and ceramics.
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Biomedical
Frederick
NanoBioFab develops AI-integrated nanomaterial sensors that detect and identify pathogens in real time from their gaseous signatures for clinical and military healthcare applications.
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Products
Fredericksburg
EMF/EMI/RFI Testing, Human Exposure/Risk Assessment & Electromagnetic Shielding, specializing in Nanotechnology, Scientific & Medical Research Laboratories and Facilities.
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Biomedical
Gaithersburg
Novavax is focused on creating novel, highly potent recombinant vaccines produced via cell culture. The company has developed three proprietary technology platforms: Virus-Like Particles, Novasome® paucilamellar vesicles and Micellar Nanoparticles.
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Products
Gaithersburg
zeroK NanoTech develops next-generation focused ion beam and dynamic SIMS instruments powered by a cesium cold-atom low temperature ion source for nanoscale imaging, milling and analysis.
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Biomedical
Germantown
Sirnaomics, Inc. is dedicated to becoming the leader in the RNAi technology focusing on (1) enhancement of the potency of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) using multi-targeted small interfering RNA (siRNA) cocktail; (2) improvement of the API delivery in vivo using clinical viable synthetic polymeric and lipid nanoparticles.
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Materials
Jessup
Vorbeck develops Vor-x graphene products to meet real-world industrial challenges. Vor-ink formulations harness the exceptional conductivity of graphene.
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Biomedical
Manassas
Ceres develops Nanotrap particle technology, hydrogel nanoparticles that capture, concentrate and preserve low-abundance analytes from biological and environmental samples for diagnostics, proteomics and wastewater surveillance.
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Products
Reston
The company offers a comprehensive and diverse array of foundry processes and design expertise to take MEMS and nanoscale projects from prototyping to production.
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Biomedical
Reston
Parabon NanoLabs designs and develops a new class of therapeutics and other products made possible by proprietary technology for precisely directing the self-assembly of designer macromolecules that are functionalized with molecular subcomponents (e.g., enzymes, metals or pharmaceuticals).
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Materials
Rockville
AzTrong is a supplier of functionalized graphene in the forms of inks, powders, slurries, and films for a wide range of applications and solutions.
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Biomedical
Rockville
The Company is developing a pipeline of multifunctional, next-generation therapeutics, binding known anti-cancer agents to its patented colloidal gold tumor-targeting nanotechnology.
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Products
Rockville
N5 Sensors builds chip-scale chemical and gas sensors based on nanoengineered semiconductor materials, paired with AI analytics for wildfire, air-quality and chemical-threat detection.
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Products
Sterling
Providing complete solutions for optical and thin film processing needs including miniature optical components and assemblies; design and manufacture custom vacuum systems and assemblies; unique thin-film deposition and etching techniques.
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Hotels & Accommodation in Greater Washington DC
Planning a lab visit, conference, or interview? Find hotels, apartments, and hostels near the area’s research institutions and nanotech companies.
Related Events
Upcoming nanotechnology events in the Greater Washington DC area:
College Park, MD, USA · Sep 22, 2026