An exciting new vaccine strategy was recently announced by Director Peter Barry and colleagues at City of Hope that has the potential to prevent a viral infection that causes 5,000 babies yearly to be born with congenital neurological deficits. Human cytomegalovirus, or HCMV, is a common virus, infecting from 50-100% [...]
Monkeys exposed in utero to their mother’s immune response to a mock infection show inflammation in their brains four years later, similar to which can be associated with schizophrenia and autism. Melissa Bauman presented new findings in her research in brain inflammation in monkeys at the 2014 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting [...]
What is potentially exciting about this research is the demonstration that the early stages of gut inflammation and damage can be intervened by the targeted probiotic bacteria. The mucosal lining of the human gastrointestinal tract is on the frontline of immune defenses, crucial in preventing infection and controlling the spread of [...]
“For myself and the thousands of people your research efforts may someday impact I want to thank you and wish you the best.” J., CMV patient As a busy Director of both the CNPRC and the Center for Comparative Medicine, Dr. Peter Barry makes time in his hectic schedule to [...]
In a study published in Science Translational Medicine on September 3, 2014, researchers from the California National Primate Research Center (CNPRC) at UC Davis and from UC San Francisco have shown that breast-and bottle-fed infant rhesus macaques develop different immune systems. Although the researchers expected that different diets would promote [...]
The recent deadly outbreak of Ebola virus in West Africa has highlighted the key role of nonhuman primate biomedical research in developing critically needed treatments and vaccines for emerging infectious diseases. Scientists around the world have pursued different strategies for development of a preventative vaccine and an effective treatment for [...]
Scientists discuss the importance of primate models for advancing knowledge in biomedical and biological research. Presenting an honest, forthright discussion of the ethical considerations of using nonhuman primates (NHP) in research, and demonstrating the vital role NHP have played in many of the medical and scientific advances of the past [...]
An experimental vaccine modeling human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection — which can endanger developing fetuses, transplant recipients, patients co-infected with HIV and others who have a weakened immune system — proved safe and effective in research conducted at the CNPRC using the rhesus macaque model. A team of scientists from the [...]
The flu season can be deadly for thousands of elderly people each year. There is a critical public health need to improve the effectiveness of influenza vaccines. Seminal research results were recently released by Drs. Chris Miller, DVM, PhD, CNPRC Core Scientist, and Tim Carroll, PhD, Post-doctoral scholar at the [...]
Tenofovir (Viread), an antiretroviral HIV drug first shown by the CNPRC to be safe and effective in treating monkeys that were infected with SIV (Simian Immunodeficiency Virus), has once again been used as the key ingredient in a pair of successful HIV preventative studies. The two new studies, by the [...]
The GI tract is considered a major 'battlefield' between the immune system and HIV. The intestinal mucosa is the site of early infection and aggressive transmission for HIV, making it the first line of defense against the infection. A better understanding of what happens in the GI tract may lead [...]
