NCTR Vision and Mission

Vision

NCTR is an internationally recognized FDA research center that provides innovative and vital scientific technology, training, and technical expertise to improve public health. NCTR—in partnership with researchers from government, academia, and industry—develops, refines, and applies current and emerging technologies to improve safety evaluations of FDA-regulated products. NCTR fosters national and international collaborations to improve and protect public health and enhance the quality of life for the American people.

Mission

NCTR conducts peer-reviewed scientific research in support of the FDA mission and provides expert technical advice and training that enables FDA to make sound science-based regulatory decisions and improve the health of the American people. The research at NCTR supports FDA’s goals: 1) to understand critical biological events in the expression of toxicity, 2) to develop and characterize methods, and incorporate new technologies to improve the assessment of human exposure, susceptibility, and risk, and 3) to increase the understanding of the interaction between genetics, metabolism, and nutrition. 

NCTR is dedicated to supporting the FDA mission to protect and promote public health by: 

• providing innovative and interdisciplinary research that promotes personal and public health 
• developing novel translational research approaches to provide FDA/DHHS with sound scientific infrastructure and multidisciplinary scientific expertise targeted towards addressing critical Agency, Department, and public-health needs such as personalized nutrition and medicine, bioimaging, systems biology, bioinformatics, nanotechnology, food protection technologies, and biomarker development 
• engaging with scientists across FDA and other government agencies, industry, and academia in cooperative learning to strengthen the scientific foundations vital to developing sound regulatory policy and leveraging resources in order to promote the international standardization and global harmonization of regulatory science 
• participating in or leading national and international consortia for the development of harmonized standards for technologies and methods in risk assessment and for personal and public health