Jay Bhattacharya's Standardized Organoid Modeling (SOM) Center
Advancing
In September 2026, NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya announced contracts totaling $87 million over the first three years to launch the nation’s first dedicated Standardized Organoid Modeling (SOM) Center, a flagship piece of his human-based research agenda. The center is to be housed at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research under the National Cancer Institute, and is being developed jointly with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS).
Bhattacharya’s argument for the center, as stated in the announcement coverage, is that standardized, reproducible, and accessible organoid models will “accelerate drug discovery and translational science.” The premise is that making human-tissue models consistent enough to be accepted by regulators and shared across labs could reduce the field’s reliance on animal models — a long-running goal of the broader New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) movement that Bhattacharya has adopted as NIH director.
Staffing followed quickly. On September 29, 2026, CytoHub co-founder Dr. Aitor Aguirre was appointed Director of Cardiac Tissue Engineering at the SOM Center, the first named scientific leadership hire for the new facility reported in the dossier’s sources.
Timeline
- September 2026: Bhattacharya announces $87 million in contracts over three years to launch the SOM Center at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, developed with NIAID, NHGRI, and NCATS.
- September 29, 2026: CytoHub co-founder Dr. Aitor Aguirre is appointed Director of Cardiac Tissue Engineering at the SOM Center.
