VERVET RESEARCH COLONY AS A BIOMEDICAL RESOURCE

描述（由申请方提供）：部分由于其作为恒河猴的替代生物医学种属的实用性，NCRR于2005年开始通过P40机制（RR 019963）支持加勒比起源的UCLA/VA Vervet Research Colony（VRC）。P40补助金的四个目标是：1）为NIH资助的研究人员增加国内饲养的，定义明确的长尾小蠹的供应; 2）维持和提供进入纯种群体的生物医学遗传学研究; 3）提供关于长尾小蠹护理和管理的培训和信息;和4）支持继续使用长尾猴进行遗传、行为，和神经生物学研究，同时开发新的vervet模型，用于研究对美国公共卫生产生不利影响的主要疾病。为了增加殖民地的可访问性和多类别使用，VRC于2008年1月搬迁到维克森林大学灵长类动物中心，在那里它被并入维克森林大学转化科学研究所，继续与加州大学洛杉矶分校的塞梅尔研究所合作。为了进一步促进实现最初的具体目标，本修订申请建议通过三项活动加强VRC的资源基础设施：1）确定VRC的病原体状态，并消除那些对菌落健康构成最大威胁和对生物医学研究造成潜在混乱的实体; 2）通过优化用于产生选择的淋巴母细胞样细胞系的程序来增强资源的遗传和基因组组分;和3）启动一个旨在鉴定和确定生殖失败的原因的程序，从而提高资源的生产力并鉴定用于开发的潜在的新动物模型。这些活动生成的信息将添加到现有的、完全可访问和可搜索的数据存储库中，该数据存储库包含VRC中每只动物的整个临床和研究历史。 公共卫生相关性（由申请方提供）：上述活动完全支持2009-2013年国家难民和康复国家委员会战略计划中阐述的目标。其中包括需要扩大和确保动物模型的开发和获得，创造一个“知识环境”，使研究人员能够了解存在哪些疾病模型资源及其对各种疾病研究的效用，并进一步将生物材料资源与临床和转化研究相结合。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Owing in part to its utility as an alternative biomedical species to the rhesus monkey, the NCRR began supporting the Caribbean-origin, UCLA/VA Vervet Research Colony (VRC) through the P40 mechanism in 2005 (RR 019963). The four aims of the P40 grant are to: 1) increase the supply of domestically-reared, well-defined vervets for NIH-funded investigators; 2) maintain and provide access to the pedigreed colony for biomedical genetics research; 3) provide training and information on the care and management of vervets; and 4) support continued use of vervets for genetic, behavioral, and neurobiological research while developing new vervet models for research on the major diseases adversely affecting public health in the United States. To increase accessibility and multi-categorical use of the colony, the VRC relocated in January 2008 to the Wake Forest University Primate Center where it was incorporated into the Wake Forest University Translational Science Institute in continued partnership with the Semel Institute of UCLA. To further facilitate achievement of the original specific aims, this revision application proposes to enhance the resource infrastructure of the VRC through three activities: 1) define the pathogen status of the VRC and eliminate those entities presenting the greatest threats to colony health and potential confounds to biomedical research; 2) enhance the genetic and genomic components of the resource by optimizing procedures for creating selected lymphoblastoid cell lines; and 3) initiate a program designed to identify and determine the cause of reproductive failure, thereby improving productivity of the resource and identifying potential new animal models for development. The information generated by these activities will be added to an existing, fully accessible and searchable data repository that incorporates the entire clinical and research history of every animal in the VRC. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE (provided by applicant): The foregoing activities are entirely supportive of the aims articulated in the 2009-2013 NCRR strategic plan. These include the needs to expand and ensure the development of and access to animal models, to create a "knowledge environment" allowing researchers to find out what disease model resources exist and their utility for the study of various diseases, and to further integrate biological material resources with clinical and translational research.