Investigators submitting National Cancer Institute (NCI) grant applications that involve animal models should be aware of new guidance from NCI Director Dr. Anthony Letai, effective for applications with due dates on or after October 5, 2026.
Applications proposing the use of animal models must now include two additional items in the Abstract:
- A justification for use of animal models. A sentence or two explaining why animal use is necessary and why alternatives would be inferior.
- A human model validation plan. A brief description of how findings from animal experiments will be validated in a human model (such as organoids, patient-derived xenografts, fresh tumor biopsy samples, or early passage cultures). Actual performance of the validation does not have to fall within the fundable scope, but a path forward should be evident.
A more detailed justification can still appear in the Vertebrate Animal Section, but NCI is specifically requiring these brief statements in the Abstract because NIH RePORTER makes award abstracts publicly searchable.
For the full guidance, see NCI's Bottom Line Blog post.
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