On June 15, 2026, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that moving forward, NICEATM will continue its important work as a division of the newly created NIH Office of Research Innovation, Validation, and Application (ORIVA). Soon, NICEATM content that you see on this webpage will be transitioned to the NIH ORIVA webpage. In the meantime, you can learn more about the new office and how it is structured.

https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/go/daibr-wksp-2026

DAIBR Workshop: Recent Developments in Human-Based Models

October 22-23, 2026
NIH Neuroscience Center Building, 6001 Executive Blvd, Rockville, MD

This workshop was organized by the Division for Accelerating Innovation in Biomedical Research (DAIBR) within the NIH Office of Research Innovation, Validation, and Application (ORIVA). ORIVA resides within the Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives (DPCPSI), Office of the NIH Director.

Final agenda (October 15)

Video of the workshop will be posted on this page when it has been formatted to meet government accessibility requirements. Announcements will be sent out via ORIVA News and D-NICEATM News when it is available.

In August 2025, NIH published a unified strategy that reiterated the agency’s commitment to promote human-based new approach methodologies and reduce animal use. These novel, human-based methods are expected to accelerate innovation in tools and technologies, opening the door to new scientific approaches, including complementary and more effective human-based research strategies.

Successful deployment of these human-based approaches for conducting basic biomedical research, uncovering disease mechanisms, and translating knowledge into products or practice will require a strong multidisciplinary effort. This workshop brought together investigators working in human-based model systems to identify gaps and challenges in the field.

The workshop was structured into sessions outlined below. Each session was followed by a discussion period, with a final discussion to synthesize workshop learnings and establish next steps.

Tentative Sessions

Day 1

  • Session I: Cell-based systems for studying human-specific development and evolutionary specializations (e.g., brain, cardiac, liver, vascularization; population genetics)
  • Session II: Transformative human-based methodologies for biomedical use: existing technologies, perturbations, and future development
  • Session III: Combining in vitro, in vivo (clinical and preclinical), in chemico, and in silico (including AI-based computational, e.g., designer cells) approaches to support human-based models

Day 2

  • Session IV: Human-based methodologies and applications in human disease models: cancer/tumor-immune axis; chronic inflammatory conditions; neuropsychiatric disorders, etc.
  • Final discussion