STEP4NAMs 3rd Partner Meeting

Palais des Congrès, Strasbourg
The day began with a warm welcome before we moved directly into the project’s core topics. 

Progress Towards Pilot Studies - Preparations for the pilot studies are advancing rapidly and the project is nearing the selection of participants. Partners reviewed the latest outcomes from the desk research and regional stakeholder interviews, which now inform several major deliverables and guide the design of the pilot activities.

Training Programme Launching i​n Early 2026 - The consortium also continued shaping the framework for the STEP4NAMs training programme, scheduled to launch in early 2026. Contributions from ATU, the 3R Tuebingen, the University of Glasgow and the University of Luxembourg are helping to build a diverse and practice-oriented curriculum that will support capacity building across the NAM landscape.

More milestones are on the horizon — stay tuned for updates as STEP4NAMs continues to grow and new opportunities to engage emerge.

Exploring Barriers, Opportunities and the Road Ahead – Insights from the STEP4NAMs Workshop at BioFIT

Palais des Congrès, Strasbourg
During the BioFIT workshop, the consortium opened its ongoing analysis to the wider innovation community. The session provided a compact overview of the challenges shaping the adoption of NAMs and highlighted where action is most urgently needed.

Drawing on extensive desk research across the six partner countries and over 30 stakeholder interviews, the team presented several recurring themes. NAM developers emphasised barriers such as limited validation standards, difficulties in demonstrating human relevance and a lack of long-term funding options. Many also reported uncertainty about regulatory acceptance and noted that only one respondent had engaged directly with regulators so far. NAM users highlighted similar challenges and pointed to fragmented training opportunities and higher costs when multiple NAMs must be combined to replace existing animal-based workflows. Animal model developers, in turn, viewed NAMs as complementary and expected a gradual, not immediate, transition away from animal testing.

Across all stakeholder groups, four structural issues surfaced repeatedly: insufficient validation frameworks, gaps in education and hands-on training, short-term funding that does not support full validation cycles and regulatory systems that still rely heavily on animal data. 

A Panel Bringing Together Expertise from Research, Industry and Regional Innovation

The workshop concluded with a panel discussion moderated by Ria Hein (BOM), featuring Dr Joaquín Penide (ATU), Prof. Dr. Ralf Kemkemer (Reutlingen University) and Kévin Plouchart (Medicen Paris Region). Together, they reflected on the barriers and opportunities identified in the STEP4NAMs analysis and shared perspectives from their respective fields.

The workshop marked a strong first public milestone for STEP4NAMs, offering valuable new connections within the NAM community and fresh momentum to drive the project forward.