What are NAMs?
New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) are engineered biological platforms that recreate human tissue environments at small scales—specifically, “organs-on-chips” or “tissue chips.” These systems maintain complex mimics of human tissues in microreactors where fluid flow provides oxygen, nutrients, and mechanical stimulation to three-dimensional living tissues, allowing them to function and respond much like they do in the body.
Unlike traditional animal models, NAMs use actual human cells from patients to create living patient avatars—personalized tissue models that capture the unique biology of individual patients. By incorporating microfluidic channels that precisely control the flow of hormones, drugs, and signaling molecules, these platforms can reproduce aspects of human physiology—particularly the intricate interactions between immune cells, nerves, hormones, and tissue—that animal models cannot capture.
For female-skewed diseases where hormones, immune responses, and inflammatory processes interact dynamically over long periods, this physiological accuracy is essential. NAMs represent a fundamental shift: from studying disease in mice or test tubes to studying it in engineered human tissue that actually behaves like the patient’s own body.
Our Mission
The NAMs Technology Development Center develops engineering-driven solutions to understand and treat female-skewed diseases—conditions that disproportionately affect women and have historically received limited research resources and technological innovation. By creating platforms that faithfully model human biology (NAMs), we enable researchers and clinicians to:
- Understand disease at the molecular and genetic level, not just treat symptoms
- Personalize treatment based on each patient’s unique biology
- Accelerate drug development with human-relevant testing before clinical trials
- Reduce reliance on animal models while generating better, faster science
Our mission is to shift the conversation about women’s health from one of pain and suffering to one of biomarkers, genetics, and molecular networks.
Our work begins with endometriosis and adenomyosis, but extends to any disease where understanding the complex interplay of hormones, immunity, and tissue inflammation matters. As we advance solutions for women’s health, we advance biomedical science broadly—because, as we often say: a rising tide lifts all boats.
MIT NAMs Technology Development
Center for Women’s Health
77 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139