ATCC, has been awarded a seven-year contract by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the NIH. The contract will focus on helping NIAID develop and refine both animal and alternative models to test new treatments, vaccines, and diagnostics for infectious diseases.
As part of this partnership, ATCC will also provide rare and hard-to-find materials that require animal models, building on its existing work with NIAID to support research on infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases.
Raymond H. Cypess, DVM, PhD, CEO of ATCC, explained that this collaboration will help scientists make faster progress. “By using innovative models, like organoids, we can reduce reliance on traditional animal testing and move drug candidates through the research pipeline more efficiently. This is especially important as we face emerging infectious diseases.”
The contract includes three key areas:
- Small Animal Models: Developing and improving small animal models to test treatments or preventive methods for specific infectious diseases.
- Animal Replacement Models: Adapting advanced technologies, such as organ-on-a-chip, to minimize animal testing in infectious disease research.
- Specialized Reagents: Producing rare materials needed for studying diseases, such as life stages of parasites or tissues infected with hard-to-culture organisms.
These materials will be distributed through NIAID’s BEI Resources, managed by ATCC.
Joseph Leonelli, PhD, Senior Vice President at ATCC, noted the importance of the collaboration, stating, “This contract allows us to expand our support for NIAID’s research, helping to push the boundaries of infectious disease science and improve public health.”