New funding and a proposed transparency measure could help accelerate the shift toward research grounded in human biology.
The National Institutes of Health has announced a major investment in the infrastructure, expertise and technologies needed to advance human-based biomedical research. NIH described the effort as its biggest push yet to move science beyond reliance on animal models.
At the center of the announcement is $88 million for biomedical research facilities across the country. NIH is also establishing a laboratory that will combine standardized human organoids with robotics, artificial intelligence and advanced data systems.
Alongside these investments, the agency is recruiting grant reviewers with expertise in human-based science and gathering input from NIH-funded institutions on the feasibility of annually reporting the number of live vertebrate animals used in their laboratories.
Together, these initiatives begin addressing two major barriers to progress: a research system built around animal use and the lack of comprehensive data needed to measure whether that use is actually declining.
“For decades, federal funding has helped build and maintain an enormous research infrastructure centered on animal use. Dedicating $88 million to NAM infrastructure begins investing in the scientific system we need next, one grounded in human biology rather than animal experimentation.”
Lauren Stein, NAVS Director of Science and Research Programs
Investing in the scientific system we need next
Ten construction projects in nine states will receive a combined $88 million through the NIH Biomedical Research Facilities Program. The projects will expand research capacity in areas including cancer, chronic disease, environmental health, rare childhood diseases, obesity and metabolic dysfunction.
NIH’s announcement acknowledges that this program has traditionally supported the construction and renovation of facilities focused on developing animal models. Directing these awards toward New Approach Methodologies, or NAMs, signals a significant change in the research infrastructure the federal government is choosing to build.
Several awards went to institutions in states participating in NIH’s Institutional Development Award program, which works to strengthen research capacity in areas that have historically received fewer research resources. This geographic reach matters. If human-based methods are to become standard practice rather than a specialty concentrated at a small number of well-funded institutions, researchers across the country need access to the necessary facilities, equipment and expertise.
Human-based methods such as organoids, organs-on-chips and other advanced in vitro systems can model aspects of human biology and disease more directly. Expanding the infrastructure required to use these approaches will allow more scientists to incorporate them into their work, generate evidence for their broader adoption and reduce reliance on animal models.
Bringing human-based expertise into grant review
Facilities and technology alone will not transform biomedical research. Human-based approaches must also receive fair and informed consideration when federal research funding is awarded.
NIH is recruiting grant reviewers with expertise in human-based science. Bringing that knowledge into study sections can help ensure that proposals involving emerging methods are evaluated by people who understand their capabilities, limitations and appropriate uses.
It could also help address an entrenched system in which animal-based methods have often been treated as the default, while researchers proposing newer human-based approaches may face reviewers who are less familiar with the technology.
A potential step toward meaningful transparency
NIH’s Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare is gathering input from NIH-funded institutions about the feasibility, benefits and burdens of annually reporting the number of live vertebrate animals used in their laboratories.
NAVS has long called for greater transparency around the use of animals in research. Existing federal reporting excludes purpose-bred mice, rats and birds, even though these animals make up the overwhelming majority of those used in laboratories. As a result, the federal totals currently available capture only a fraction of actual animal use.
Without comprehensive data, the public cannot determine the true scale of animal use or evaluate whether federal initiatives are producing meaningful reductions.
NIH’s framing is encouraging because it refers broadly to live vertebrate animals, rather than only those covered by the Animal Welfare Act. However, a request for information asks whether reporting is feasible. It does not guarantee that reporting will happen, and the scope of any future system has not been settled.
A reporting system worth building should:
- Count every live vertebrate animal used in NIH-supported research, including animals bred for research but never used in a study
- Provide species-level and institution-level information rather than only a national total
- Use standardized definitions so the data can be compared from year to year
- Prevent animals transferred between protocols or institutions from being counted more than once
- Maintain this comprehensive scope through implementation
Even at its strongest, this reporting would cover only NIH-funded research, not every animal used in laboratories across the country. It could nevertheless provide the most complete public picture of federally funded animal use ever assembled.
Turning investment into measurable change
NIH remains measured in describing its goal. The agency continues to characterize animal models as an important research tool and says it aims to reduce animal use “whenever feasible.” That is not where NAVS stands.
Still, the commitments in this announcement are being made through construction funding, laboratory capacity and institutional change. Those investments are a meaningful indication of where the research system may be heading.
“NAVS welcomes this investment because transitioning away from animal experimentation requires more than acknowledging its limitations. It requires moving resources out of systems that perpetuate animal use and into better, human-relevant science.”
Lauren Stein
The next test will be implementation. The new facilities must become accessible to researchers, promising technologies must be validated and adopted, qualified experts must help shape funding decisions, and NIH must create a reporting system detailed enough for the public to evaluate genuine progress.
For nearly a century, NAVS has worked toward a future in which science advances without exploiting animals. This investment moves the research system closer to that goal while expanding opportunities for methods that can provide more directly relevant insight into human health.
NAVS will continue monitoring these initiatives, advocating for transparency and accountability, and supporting the scientists building a more humane and human-relevant future for research.
Source: NIH makes major investments to advance human-based research infrastructure and technologies
