Newswise — The Southwest National Primate Research Center (SNPRC) celebrates its 10th anniversary on October 1. The day-long program of events will include sessions on the center’s accomplishments in the areas of infectious diseases and biodefense, development and aging, chronic diseases and genomics.
Established in 1999, SNPRC became the first new National Primate Research Center (NPRC) in more than 35 years. The SNPRC brought a number of unique strengths to the NPRC program, stemming from a long, productive history of nonhuman primate research at its host institution, the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research (SFBR). It currently maintains approximately 3,800 primates for breeding and research purposes.
“These unique strengths include the world’s largest research baboon population, the world’s largest and best-characterized pedigreed primate population, the world’s largest group of geneticists committed to research with and management of captive nonhuman primates and high level biocontainment and infectious disease research,” said John L. VandeBerg, Ph.D., SNPRC’s director.
Sessions during the October 1 event will include comments from officials of the National Institutes of Health, which funds the SNPRC base grant, from representatives of other NPRCs, and from current and former SNPRC leaders.
The center provides broad collaborative opportunities in primate research to the southwestern region of the country, and serves the entire country with specialized technologies, capabilities, and primate resources, many of which are unique to the SNPRC.
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