NAMs are a focus of the NIH and NDRI

National Disease Research Interchange (NDRI)’s Thomas Bell, MS, PhD, recently served on the Organizing Committee of the “Advancing Research Infrastructure to Study Human Diseases” virtual workshop. This two-day workshop, presented by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP) focused on the emergence and adoption of new approach methodologies (NAMs).

NAMs are innovative, human-relevant technologies and testing strategies designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of drugs and chemicals without relying on traditional animal models. They allow researchers to study health and disease using human information, creating alternative methods to yield replicable, translatable, and efficient results either alone or in combination with animal models.

Given the current state of technology development, realizing the broad utility of NAMs in biomedical research will require sustained investment in shared infrastructure and community resources. This workshop focused on the path forward for widespread adoption of NAMS, with Day One focused on the strategic and translational integration of NAMs and animal models in biomedical research, with an emphasis on data standards and validation, while Day Two looked at how technologies will drive adoption and maximize impact on human disease research, with an interest in identifying infrastructure gaps.

Dr. Bell, NDRI’s Chief Scientific Officer, has a long history working with human biospecimens and NAMs. He serves as Principal Investigator of NDRI’s long-running Human Tissues and Organs for Research Resource (HTORR) NIH grant, which provides human biospecimens to researchers from multiple NIH institutes.

“I was excited to serve on the Organizing Committee for this workshop,” said Dr. Bell. “NDRI has more than four decades of experience sourcing human biospecimens and providing advice and support for researchers moving into human models. We are proud to be involved in the continued development of NAMs.”

As the NIH expands its support for NAMs, including with the recent establishment of its Office of Research Innovation, Validation, and Application (ORIVA), designed to support the move to NAMs, NDRI is poised to serve as a trusted resource for researchers moving from animal models to NAMs and human tissue.