Nestled in an idyllic campus setting southeast of Little Rock, lies the Jefferson Laboratories of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Located on the Jefferson Labs campus is the internationally recognized National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR), where approximately 600 staff (180+ Ph.D.s), conduct scientific research to develop and support innovative tools and evaluate approaches that the FDA uses to protect and promote public health. As the only FDA Center located outside the Washington, D.C. area, NCTR gives Arkansas the distinct advantage of producing sound toxicological advancements in regulatory science and generating data and new technologies for FDA decision making and regulated products.
Collaborative partnerships within FDA, other government agencies, industry, and last, but not least, academia are critical to the NCTR. ARA helps NCTR with its collaborative efforts by providing outreach capabilities with Arkansas university partners and other institutions. As new concepts for research opportunities arise, ARA works to combine resources that strengthen and stimulate state-wide innovation.
ARA and NCTR share a common goal toward modernizing regulatory science with the intent of bringing safer products to market and reducing post-marketing failure. We do this a number of ways for the benefit of Arkansans and the nation. Our multi-disciplinary partners develop and refine bioinformatics tools, increase the understanding of toxicity of nanotechnology-based products, and promote education at the graduate level and beyond, and increase the knowledge base available for excellence and greater productivity in these areas.
For more information about NCTR and its research, visit http://www.fda.gov/NCTR
If you would like to contact this core facility, please fill out the "Facility Contact Form" on the right of this page. This contact method helps ARA measure the success of the CFE in connecting potential collaborators and will flow directly to the core director’s email inbox.