The new NIH-supported network is working to develop novel approach methodologies that complement or replace animal testing.]

A multidisciplinary team of researchers at Johns Hopkins University—including INBT associate researcher and professor David Gracias of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and his students—has been awarded a five-year, $15 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a platform for evaluating potential treatments for neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and to screen for harmful chemicals.

The grant is through the NIH Common Fund’s Complement Animal Research In Experimentation, or Complement-ARIE program, which supports developing new approach methodologies, or NAMs, that simulate human biology—complementing and, in some instances, replacing animal testing. This first round of funding will support a series of technology development centers, including one at Johns Hopkins, as well as a NAMs data hub and coordinating center. Total NIH funding for these initiatives is $150 million over five years, pending availability of funds.

The Drug Research Organoid Intelligence Development Platform, or DROIDp, will use brain organoids—lab-grown neural tissues derived from human stem cells—advanced electrical sensors, and AI analytics to assess neural functions such as learning and memory in drug and chemical testing, and to develop integrated NAMs.

The project is led by Lena Smirnova, assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering and program lead at the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Erik Johnson, senior research scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.

The Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering’s Gracias Laboratory will bring its expertise in micro- and nanoscale engineering to the design of bioreactors and shell-based microsystems that interface with neural organoids—miniature, lab-grown models of the human brain. These patent-pending microsystems offer the potential for high-throughput 3D electrical and microfluidic stimulation and recording from neural organoids of broad relevance to investigating neurological diseases.

“The DROID platform is designed to help close one of the important gaps in in vitro neurobiology models: the ability to measure higher-order neural responses such as learning-related activity and memory in a human-relevant system,” says Smirnova. “Through the NIH Common Fund’s Complement-ARIE program, we have an opportunity to develop integrated NAMs into a practical framework that can reduce reliance on animal studies.”

Learn more about the research on the Hub.