Biomedical Research Facility for the Translational Hub for Research, Innovation, Validation, and Excellence (THRIVE) - Project Summary/Abstract The Translational Hub for Research, Innovation, Validation, and Excellence (THRIVE) will establish a purpose-built, shared-use research facility designed to support basic and translational research through broader access to New Approach Methodologies (NAMs). As a purpose-built facility, THRIVE will address NIH mission priorities in human-relevant disease biology and translational research by providing investigators with access to emerging and validated human-relevant model systems together with established workflows, integrated scientific and technical expertise, pathology and downstream analytical capabilities, and shared data resources within a single integrated operating environment. By bringing these capabilities together, THRIVE will enable investigators to select, compare, refine, and apply human-relevant systems more rigorously, generate data that are more reproducible and interpretable, and use advanced models within a coordinated shared-use environment that broadens access to capabilities not typically available within a single laboratory. THRIVE will launch into an environment of significant interest from NIH-funded investigators, with established access pathways through UAB’s Institutional Research Core Program and the multi-institutional Center for Clinical and Translational Science network. THRIVE will also address a broader infrastructure need in biomedical research by providing the shared- use environment needed to evaluate, benchmark, standardize, and validate NAMs and NAM platforms for wider research use. In addition to expanding access to NAMs, THRIVE will generate, curate, and provide open access to historical control data, comparator datasets, and structured metadata needed to support more consistent interpretation across studies and to strengthen validation, benchmarking, and fit-for-purpose application of NAMs. These shared data resources will also provide a foundation for development of AI and in silico tools for predictive biology by THRIVE and NIH researchers. By integrating shared infrastructure, comparative datasets, standardized workflows, and scientific expertise, THRIVE will strengthen the quality and translational relevance of NIH-supported research, advance more predictive approaches to disease biology and therapeutic response, and support safer and more effective approaches to prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease.
