Widespread use in DFG-funded projects / Study shows complementary use of NAMs and animal research

Selecting the most suitable methods is a key task when designing research projects in the life sciences. The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) has now investigated for the first time the extent to which New Approach Methods (NAMs) are used in the projects it funds. NAMs encompass a broad range of methods that have the potential to reduce, complement or replace animal experiments in accordance with the 3Rs principle (“replace, reduce, refine”). The study, which is now available in English, shows that NAMs are widely used in DFG-funded projects and that their use increased markedly during the period examined (2017–2025). It also shows that NAMs and animal research are frequently used in a complementary manner. 

The analysis is based on a text-mining approach applied to proposal documents submitted under the DFG’s Research Grants and Collaborative Research Centres Programmes. It covers a selection of methods from the spectrum of NAMs in the categories of organoids, other 3D tissue models, chip-based technologies and bioprinting. Other methods such as computer modelling or conventional in vitro approaches were not included: although these can be classified as NAMs, it was not possible to identify them using specific keywords. The DFG has now published the findings as a data story. This visual presentation illustrates in particular how the use of NAMs has developed over the past eight years.

It shows that, during the period examined, the DFG approved a total of 554 individual proposals under the Research Grants Programme and 163 collaborative proposals under the Collaborative Research Centres Programme involving the NAMs covered by this study. The number of approved proposals involving the use of NAMs rose very markedly between 2017 and 2025 (from 35 to 95 Research Grants and from 14 to 24 Collaborative Research Centres). These methods are used particularly extensively in clinically relevant areas of the life sciences such as cancer, the immune system, the nervous system and metabolism.

“The extent to which New Approach Methods are used in the projects analysed is extremely encouraging,” said Professor Dr. Brigitte Vollmar, Chair of the DFG Permanent Senate Commission on Animal Research. NAMs are used in 87 percent of all Collaborative Research Centres in the life sciences approved in 2025; in almost all of these CRCs, funding was also requested under the budget category “Expenses for Laboratory Animals”.

“The analysis shows that NAMs are continuously improving and yielding increasingly meaningful results” said Vollmar. “DFG funding makes an important contribution to this development. At the same time, the study clearly demonstrates that, in the case of many research questions, it is not possible to replace animal research with equivalent methods. We therefore need the full spectrum of methods, and broader advances in knowledge often arise precisely from combining these different methods. The spectrum includes both NAMs and animal research – with careful consideration always being given to which methods are best suited to addressing the specific research question.”

In its data stories(interner Link), the DFG provides concise information on selected aspects of its funding activities. The data story format offers users a number of benefits: all figures and tables can be explored interactively, while the underlying data is also available for download and can be processed further for users’ own purposes and analyses.

Further Information

To the data story Advancing Scientific Knowledge Through Diverse Methods – New Approach Methods (NAMs) and Animal Experiments in Biological and Medical Research(interner Link)

Permanent Senate Commission on Animal Research(interner Link)