Standardized Organoid Modeling Center to Reduce Reliance on Animal Modeling

Today, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced the award of contracts for launching the Standardized Organoid Modeling (SOM) Center, a national resource that will be dedicated to using cutting-edge technologies to develop standardized organoid-based new approach methodologies (NAMs) that deliver robust, reproducible, and patient-centered research findings.

The SOM center will initially focus on organoid models of the liver, lung, heart, and intestine, with plans to expand into the brain, thymus, and other disease-specific models.

The Center is designed to support a wide range of users, including:

• Scientists and researchers across academic institutions, industry, and government.
• Regulatory agencies (e.g., FDA) looking for reliable, reproducible human-relevant models for safety assessments.
• Clinicians and precision medicine experts seeking patient-specific models.
• The broader scientific community, including intramural (within NIH) and extramural (outside NIH) researchers, industry partners, and educators.

Affordable access to protocols and organoids will be available for qualified researchers nationally. Contact [email protected] for more information.

Read more details in today’s News Release and on the NIH SOM Center website.