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In 2024, there has been a record-breaking number of dengue virus outbreaks, with more than seven million cases documented. Dengue virus is a viral infection that spreads from mosquitoes to humans, resulting in symptoms such as high fever, headache, nausea, body aches, and rash. In severe cases or cases of reinfection, dengue virus can be fatal.

This month, leadership from all seven National Primate Research Centers (NPRCs) and the Caribbean Primate Research Center convened in Washington, D.C. In addition to their internal meetings, leaders from each center engaged with congressional office staff to underscore the importance of their efforts to their local representatives.

Scientists at the California National Primate Research Center (CNPRC) have successfully used machine learning, a subset of artificial intelligence (AI), to measure anxiety-related behaviors in monkeys. The study, published in Nature's Translational Psychiatry on March 15, 2024, demonstrated that human ratings of an infant monkey’s nervous temperament were linked to brain activity and behavior measured years later through a machine-learning approach. These findings suggest a connection between nervousness in infancy and the eventual development of anxiety and depressive disorders.

The brains of nonhuman primates respond to gentle, pleasurable touch in the same way as humans, even without awareness, researchers at the California National Primate Research Center have found. This study also revealed age-related differences in the way touch is processed by the brain. The study, conducted by [Ph.D. Candidate] Joey Charbonneau and CNPRC core scientist Eliza Bliss-Moreau’s lab, poses fascinating questions about the role of consciousness in pleasurable touch, as well as age-related changes in the brain’s processing of touch.

A recent study conducted at the California National Primate Research Center (CNPRC) is uncovering how the HIV virus spreads in the brain. Smita Iyer, an Associate Professor in the Division of Experimental and Translational Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, led the study during her tenure as a CNPRC core scientist.

Asthma is a common chronic lung disease affecting approximately 1 in 13 adults in the U.S., with rates of asthma in the U.S. increasing yearly. Scientists are working hard to understand the disease and test potential treatments. The Inhalation Exposure Core at the California National Primate Research Center (CNPRC) is one of the few facilities worldwide that can research environmental effects on asthma development.

A new vaccine designed to protect against oxycodone has demonstrated the ability to generate antibodies in the blood, preventing the drug from reaching the brain by trapping it in the bloodstream. The study, funded by the California National Primate Research Center’s Pilot Research Program at the University of California, Davis, examined this promising treatment option for a disorder affecting nearly three million people in the United States. The findings suggest that the vaccine could be a candidate for human use.

at least when it comes to their autonomic nervous system (ANS), compared to their younger counterparts. In an experiment monitoring peripheral nervous system responses to mood-inducing  videos, researchers from Eliza Bliss-Moreau’s lab at the California National Primate Research Center found the videos elicited a response from the monkeys based on content, but the response appeared blunted in older monkeys.

Zika virus infection in pregnant rhesus macaques slows fetal growth and affects how infants and mothers interact in the first month of life, according to a new study from researchers at the California National Primate Research Center at the University of California, Davis. The work, published Oct. 25 in Science Translational Medicine, has implications for both humans exposed to Zika virus and for other viruses that can cross the placenta, including SARS-CoV2, responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lower urinary tract (LUT) dysfunction is prevalent in older adults. Clinical manifestations include urinary retention, incontinence and recurrent urinary tract infections. Bladder catheters and increased risk for infections requiring outpatient antibiotic treatment or hospitalization frequently result. This is often followed by the loss of independence and the need for long-term care in skilled nursing facilities or at home.

California National Primate Research Center is pleased to announce the 2023-2024 CNPRC Pilot Research Program recipients. Every year the CNPRC awards pilot research grants focusing on nonhuman primate (NHP) models of human disease. This award aims to explore innovative areas of NHP research and generate preliminary data to serve as a basis for submitting new research grant applications (e.g., R01-type applications to the National Institute of Health) and/or subsequent clinical studies.

Just how important are first impressions? Using a speed-dating model, student researcher Alexander Baxter, explored the significance of first impressions in humans and nonhuman primates. The work published in the American Journal of Primatology on April 13th, 2023, reveals monkeys and humans strongly rely on first impressions when selecting a romantic partner. 

In the spring of 2020, SARS-CoV-2 swept across the world, and scientists everywhere immediately jumped into action. Questions from how the virus spread, to what the infection does to the human body, to who is most at risk needed to be answered. Assistant Professor at Duke Human Vaccine Institute, Maria Blasi, wanted to learn more about the age-dependent responses of SARS-CoV-2. Specifically, she was interested in why infants and young children had lower hospitalization and fatality rates than older populations.

Autosomal dominant optic atrophy (ADOA) is a rare genetic disease that causes progressive and irreversible vision loss in both eyes starting in the first decade of life. There is currently no treatment for ADOA, which affects approximately 3 people per 100,000 worldwide. 

UC Davis researchers will use a new 3.5 million grant from the National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, to develop a nonhuman primate model of ADOA to speed the development and testing of treatments for humans. 

A series of studies published by Dr. Karen Bales’ lab at the California National Primate Research Center revealed that chronic intranasal oxytocin (OT) produces sex-specific biological and behavioral responses in titi monkeys, a monogamous nonhuman primate.