Monday, September 21, 2026

NIH makes major investments to advance human-based research infrastructure and technologies

Projects spanning the nation will accelerate scientific discovery, reduce reliance on animals.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is making its biggest push yet to move biomedical research beyond animal model use, unveiling five major initiatives that could reshape how new drugs and treatments are developed and evaluated. Together, the efforts signal a significant investment into human-based technologies as the future of preclinical science, aiming to make research faster, more predictive, and more directly relevant to human health.

Efforts include more than $88 million in funding for biomedical infrastructure projects nationwide; a new challenge offering over $7 million in awards to demonstrate how quantum-enabled approaches can improve detection and measurement in lab-based New Approach Methodologies (NAMs); a state-of-the-art laboratory at the NIH Clinical Center that will integrate standardized human organoid models, robotics, AI, and advanced data capabilities to enable experiments on reproducible human biological systems; an initiative to recruit grant reviewers who are experts in human-based science; and a new request for information from the scientific community to assess the feasibility of an annual public report tracking the number of vertebrate animals used in NIH-funded research.

“NIH is building the scientific infrastructure needed to develop, validate, and scale technologies that better reflect human biology,” said NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, M.D., Ph.D. “Our goal is to give researchers better tools to understand human disease and translate discoveries into treatments that improve patients’ lives.”

Part of NIH’s Biomedical Research Facilities Program, 10 construction projects totaling $88 million, located across the nation, will spur the advancement of NAMs and enable investigation into a host of major health issues facing Americans, including chronic disease, environmental health, rare childhood diseases, cancer research, obesity and metabolic dysfunctions. Traditionally, many awards in this program have supported the construction and renovation of research infrastructure focused on further development of animal models for research. While animal models are still an important tool for human biomedical discovery, NIH’s goal is to reduce the use of animals whenever feasible.

These new awards also reflect NIH’s commitment to a broad geographical distribution of taxpayer funds, with awardees representing nine states from coast to coast. Several of the grants are to institutions in NIH Institutional Development Award (IDeA) States, with a focus on building research capacity in areas that traditionally lag peer states in health care technology, services, or research resources and where these lags may adversely affect the health status of the local population in the future.

“We are at a unique moment in biomedical research, with new tools and technologies giving us an unprecedented opportunity to advance research methodologies that more closely reflect human biology,” said Nicole Kleinstreuer, Ph.D., NIH Deputy Director for Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives. “But realizing that opportunity requires a strong foundation and a research enterprise with the capacity to innovate across the country. These new awards will help build that foundation by expanding access to resources, expertise and infrastructure, ensuring that scientists with transformative ideas will advance the next generation of biomedical research.”

The Quantum-Enabled Approaches for Predictive Preclinical NAMs for Toxicity and Safety (Qu-SAFE) Challenge seeks proof-of-concept and prototype sensing systems that use quantum technology, either alone or combined with classical methods, to improve how researchers detect and measure biological signals in lab-based NAMs systems used for drug safety and toxicity evaluation. This includes tools such as organ-on-a-chip devices that generate human-relevant data without relying on animal models. The challenge’s goal is to unlock new kinds of biological data and signals that can’t currently be measured, making these preclinical models better at predicting real-world drug safety and effectiveness. Top submissions will earn portions of prizes totaling over $7 million.

NIH will also establish a Bio Genesis Autonomous Human Biology Laboratory within the NIH Clinical Center, aligned with the NIH Standardized Organoid Modeling (SOM) Center, to integrate standardized human organoid models, robotics, AI, and advanced data capabilities into a closed-loop experimental platform to enable clinically driven questions to be tested in reproducible human biological systems. These new lab systems will generate data that continuously informs the next experiment and accelerates translation while reducing reliance on animal models.

Two final efforts include a newly issued request for information (RFI) to seek input from domestic and foreign NIH-funded institutions on the reporting of laboratory animal numbers, and a push to recruit reviewers with expertise in human-based science. For the first, NIH’s Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW) is gathering input on feasibility, current capabilities, expected benefits, and expected burdens associated with yearly reporting of the number of live, vertebrate animals in NIH-funded labs. This effort would increase transparency regarding animal use and would assist the agency in measuring the progress of its work to reduce the use of animals in NIH-supported research. For the second, NIH recognizes that the agency needs robust expertise to help review the many new facets of science presented by human-based approaches. Building up this expertise in the peer review process will help ensure relevant experts are included in the evaluation of these new technologies and projects and help facilitate the shift of research from animal-based methods to human-based science. Experts in human-based science are encouraged to express their interest here. 

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health^®