The College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Texas A&M University, located 150 kilometers north of Houston, Texas, will be home to a new research center: the NAMs Decision Center. It is being funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with $15.3 million. The five-year grant will advance modern, science-based approaches (NAMs) to improve and accelerate chemical safety assessments while reducing the need for new animal testing.

On March 18, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced more than $150 million in funding for the development and scaling of research methods that better simulate human biology and reduce reliance on animal models—a priority of the Trump administration.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University will receive $15 million to develop a platform to study neurological diseases and test chemicals using “novel methodological approaches” that do not involve animal testing.

Antibodies for research or diagnosis do not need to be derived from animals. Phage display is a well-known method, but there are also production processes using bacterial spores or diatoms avialable.