NIH’s statement added that its grant review staff will “participate in mitigation training to address any possible bias towards animal studies.” The agency will also add experts on nonanimal research methods to its study sections—independent scientific panels that review grant proposals. The agency did not respond to questions from Science by publication time.

An office coordinating work on nonanimal methods across agencies will be useful, says Naomi Charalambakis, director of communications and science policy at the nonprofit Americans for Medical Progress. But, “The devil is in the details in how this is going to be implemented.” And “however NIH proceeds … it’s important to preserve the quality and timeliness of grant reviews,” she says.

Read more.

Published April 30, 2025 by Sara Reardon, Science