Translational Science Initiative

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PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT: The major goal of this application is to improve and maintain the Caribbean Primate Research Center's (CPRC) unique research resources through support of operations, administration, veterinary care and research. The CPRC consists of four integrated facilities: (1) Cayo Santiago Field Station, the most valuable of the CPRC research resources that holds a colony of free-ranging rhesus brought from India to Cayo Santiago (CS) in 1938.; (2) the Sabana Seca Field Station, the CPRC's head quarters located 10 miles outside of San Juan that houses rhesus monkeys derived from Cayo Santiago colony in various outdoor configurations for biomedical and behavioral studies that are not feasible on free-ranging animals; (3) the Laboratory of Virology and Genetics (LVG), located on the Medical Sciences Campus (MSC), in San Juan which support several research initiatives using rhesus monkeys as a model; and (4) the Laboratory of Primate Morphology (LPM), which is also located on the MSC, and houses the CPRC skeletal collections, unique assemblages of nonhuman primate skeletons for genetic, developmental, pathological and anatomical research. As described in this proposal, CPRC is organized into four complementary and integrated divisions: Primate Resources, Virology and Genetics, Behavior and Neurosciences, and Primate Morphology. Funds are requested in this application to maintain CPRC basic infrastructure of Primate Resources, which are used to support numerous research projects locally, national and internationally. This grant will also allow CPRC to continue supporting the Translational Science Initiative (TSI) under the Applied Research Component. A major strength of this TSI is conducting multidisciplinary collaborative studies to establish and validate NHP models for preclinical translational projects related to different human diseases. With continued NIH support, the CPRC will remain a significant national research resource and will be able to provide healthy Indian-origin rhesus monkeys of defined genetic and virological background to NIH-sponsored research programs.