Two distinguished Michigan State University professors are part of a new National Institutes of Health-funded, multi-institutional research hub at Texas A&M University, focused on transforming how industrial and consumer-use chemicals are evaluated for human safety.

The collaborative, multidisciplinary research team received a five-year, $15.3 million grant to establish the New Approach Methodologies Decision Center as part of the NIH Common Fund Complement-Animal Research in Experimentation program. The center aims to improve human-health protection while significantly reducing reliance on animal testing through developing approaches to improve and accelerate chemical safety assessments.

Led by Principal Investigator Ivan Rusyn, professor in Texas A&M’s Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology, the center brings together experts in toxicology, engineering, data science and regulatory policy to advance human-relevant laboratory models and computational tools. Its work will address longstanding barriers to adopting non-animal methods, especially in regulatory decisions about industrial and consumer chemicals.

A major scientific challenge the center will tackle is improving read-across methods — using data from one chemical to predict safety for similar chemicals. By generating robust, population-based biological data, the center will strengthen the scientific foundation needed for regulators to accept these approaches.

MSU researchers lead ethical and socially responsible research and communication efforts of the center

MSU Red Cedar Distinguished Professor Kevin C. Elliott and Ellis N. Brandt Professor of Public Relations John C. Besley are leaders in the center's mission to create the conditions for public trust in new test methods by pairing the center’s research with reflection on its social implications. They are heading up the project’s focus on Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications of NAMS Development and Use.

Objectives of their work include:

• Creating ethical and socially responsible approaches to validate the center’s research methods.
• Establishing communication goals that reflect ethical and social considerations.
• Developing strategies to address ethical, legal, and social concerns across all research activities.
• Analyzing how these ethical, legal, and social efforts affect the center’s scientists.

Elliott is an internationally recognized scholar of ethics in science whose work examines how social values, interests and communication practices shape research and policy — especially in environmental and public health contexts. He has authored several influential books on values in science and collaborates widely with scientific and regulatory bodies. Elliott holds a joint appointment in the Science and Society faculty group in Lyman Briggs College and the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Besley is a leading researcher in science and risk communication, studying how trust, fairness and public perceptions influence support for emerging technologies. His work also explores how scientists think about communication and how institutions can better support effective, ethical engagement. He has published extensively on topics ranging from biotechnology and energy systems to the impacts of communication training. Besley is a professor in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences.

Elliott emphasizes that pairing scientific innovation with openness and broad engagement is essential: The center is “laying the foundation for a new era of chemical safety assessment — one that is faster, more ethical, and more protective of human health,” he writes.

Besley adds: “The work we are doing at MSU is important because the scientific community can’t take societal acceptance of new technologies for granted. Scientists need to actively work to take others’ needs and concerns into account and openly share what they are learning throughout the research and development process.”

Their work positions MSU as a key national contributor to shaping the future of chemical safety policy and public understanding.

This story originally appeared on the Lyman Briggs College website.