The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced that it will embrace a new program aimed at expanding innovative, human-based science to reduce animal use in research.
According to the NIH, traditional animal models remain essential to advance scientific knowledge, but technology can expand the researcher’s toolbox to provide the strengths that can answer difficult or unanswered biomedical questions.
New technologies allow researchers to use human information to examine health and disease, providing different means to provide replicable and translated logical results, either alone or in combination with animal models, the organization said.
The technology includes organoids, tissue chips, and other in vitro systems that help scientists model human diseases, human variability, and patient-specific properties. A computational model that replicates complex biological human systems, disease pathways, and drug interactions. Real-world data that allows you to examine human health outcomes at the community and population level.
NIH said it will establish an office for research innovation, verification and applications within the director’s office. It organizes NIH-wide attempts to develop, certify and expand the use of non-animal approaches across the institution’s biomedical research portfolio, serving as a hub for interagency coordination and regulatory translation for public health protection.”
Additionally, Oriva increases funding and training for non-animal testing, raising awareness of its value in translation success.
“Our biomedical research system has been heavily dependent on animal models for decades. With this initiative, NIH is leading a new era of innovation,” NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement.
“By integrating data science and technology advancements with the growing understanding of human biology, we can fundamentally rethink how research is carried out, from clinical development to real-world applications. This human-based approach accelerates innovation, improves healthcare outcomes, and delivers life-changing treatments.
Bigger trends
NIH Support Research with animals It is essential for the prevention, early detection and treatment of many diseases.
According to the NIH, The shared properties of laboratory animals help researchers understand important biological and physiological processes in humans.
Animal research has helped in treating penicillin, insulin, blood transfusions, polio vaccines, and breast cancer, blood pressure, and epilepsy.
NIH has long adopted technology to enhance research.
Researcher in 2024 The National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the NIH, has developed an artificial intelligence tool that predicts whether patients will use individual tumor cells to respond to cancer treatments. Natural Cancer.
A traditional approach to drug patient matching focusing on tumor DNA and RNA bulk sequencing. Perception, an AI approach, utilizes single-cell RNA sequencing to provide better resolution data to fine-tune predicted drug responses.
Perception showed promising in two clinical trials: myeloma and breast cancer. This study created numerical value for the effectiveness of clinically tested drug combinations. They were ranked best by individual tumor cell responses to treatment, allowing researchers to determine the most effective treatment for a particular patient.
