On February 12, 2015, CNPRC Affiliate Scientists Drs. Koen Van Rompay, Peter Beernink, and Dan Granoff announced important findings from a pilot project study conducted at the CNPRC on improving the effectiveness of the meningococcal vaccine for prevention of sepsis and meningitis caused by meningococci group B, a rare, and sometimes [...]
On February 2, 2015, at the invitation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seeking comments on the optimal level of ozone for public health, Kent Pinkerton, PhD, Core Scientist in the CNPRC Respiratory Diseases Unit and for the Inhalation Exposure Core, presented the scientific basis for requesting that national ozone [...]
High rates of non-vaccinated children throughout the US have reached critical numbers of vulnerable individuals, resulting in perfect conditions for a wildfire storm of measles infections, an easily preventable yet highly contagious disease. More than 120 confirmed cases of measles have been reported in 17 states and the District of [...]
Think before you drink. "Dry January" can be a struggle for some after the holidays, but new research has revealed that you may be benefiting your own and future offspring’s health. A new study by CNPRC Core Scientist Catherine VandeVoort, PhD, (Fetility and Sterility) identified some of the potential effects of long-term [...]
According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, just 7.5 percent of all artificially fertilized embryos will go on to become live-born children. With such a low success rate, failed in vitro fertilization (IVF) is a frustrating situation for couples and their doctors. Stuart Meyers, D.V.M., Ph.D., CNPRC Affiliate Scientist [...]
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 [...]
Monkeys, too, can be lonely, even when surrounded by others in a social group. What is loneliness? Is it wishing to be social but not having friends in your social group? More than just a socio-emotional condition, it can be a significant cause of poor health, and is of special [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Research links sugar consumption to disrupted ovarian function in healthy animals CNPRC housed rhesus monkeys fed relatively low doses of dietary sugar over 6 months showed significant impairments in oocyte maturation and major changes in early embryo gene expression, according to researchers Charles L. Chaffin, PhD (University of Maryland School [...]
The newly completed CNPRC Respiratory Disease Center (RDC) held an open house on February 27th to celebrate the construction of a state-of-the-art 19,000 square-foot wet laboratory and inhalation exposure facility that will set the standards for research in respiratory health. The CNPRC has been a leader in understanding primate lung [...]
A fascinating collaboration was recently conducted between disparate interests: the CNPRC, UC Davis’ Department of Statistics and Department of Economics, the International Institute for Human-Animal Networks, and the Department of Population Health & Reproduction at the School of Veterinary Medicine. In a study comparing the behaviors of outdoor-housed rhesus macaque [...]
During June and July 2008, almost 2,000 wildfires ignited in Northern California, leading to high levels of inhalable particulate matter (PM) in the Sacramento Valley that lasted for almost two weeks. PM2.5 (the terminology for inhalable particles smaller than 2.5 microns) at the UC Davis campus were recorded at 50 [...]
A UC Davis team, co-led by Alice Tarantal, PhD, and Peter Belafsky, MD, MPH, PhD, has received a $4.4 million grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) for their project entitled “Tissue Engineered Recellularized Laryngotracheal Implants”, which proposes to develop a stem cell-derived airway transplant to cure a difficult, life-threatening [...]
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 [...]
Collaborative efforts add critical information to understanding effects of BPA BPA (bisphenol A), is used in the manufacturing of various plastics and food packaging, consumer products, some paper receipts, and medical devices. It is controversial because it exerts weak, but detectable, hormone-like properties which can mimic estrogen and may lead [...]
In a major advance in understanding risk factors, and possible means of prevention of autism, Melissa Bauman, PhD, and David Amaral, PhD, performed studies at the CNPRC with rhesus monkeys to further define the role that maternal antibodies have to play in the risk of a child having autism. The research was [...]
