Nonhuman Primate Core

Computational Biology Core

Small Animal Core

BSL4 Core

Pathogenesis Expression Core

Law, Policy and Ethics

Trans-Center Cores

National Small Molecule Screening Laboratory

RCE Communications

Nonhuman Primate Aerobiology Core

Passive immunotherapeutics for                             Select Agents

Nonhuman Primate Core

Collaborating Institution: Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, San Antonio, TX

Director: Suzette D. Tardif, Ph.D.

Associate Directors:
a) Andrew Lackner, D.V.M., Ph.D. - Tulane University Health Sciences Center, Tulane National Primate Research Center, New Orleans, LA
b) James L. Blanchard, D.V.M., Ph.D. - Tulane University Health Sciences Center, Tulane National Primate Research Center, New Orleans, LA

Description: There is a clear consensus that nonhuman primates are a necessary part of the development of therapeutics and vaccines for the NIAID Class A and Class B agents. For many of these agents, human trials will be very limited or impossible. In addition, appropriate animal BSL3 facilities and personnel trained in the handling of primates under BSL3 and BSL4 conditions will be necessary in order to ensure efficient and timely transfer of advances in therapeutics and vaccines to the human population. For many agents of interest, nonhuman primate models have not been developed or are only developed in species that are in desperately short supply (e.g., rhesus macaques). Therefore, development of new nonhuman primate resources will be an essential part of moving candidate therapeutics and vaccines into human use. The Nonhuman Primate Core of the WRCE has several functions: to provide oversight and assistance in the acquisition of animals by investigators using nonhuman primates and assure compliance with federal animal welfare and biosafety regulations; to provide for the routine veterinary care and husbandry of nonhuman primates; to provide expertise and assistance in the design and implementation of experiments using nonhuman primates; to provide clinical and pathology laboratory support for studies using nonhuman primates; and to develop new and innovative nonhuman primate resources for use in testing therapeutics and vaccines.
Special resources provided by the two core institutions include:
1. Infrastructure and animals to conduct nonhuman primate studies under BL4 conditions and ABL3 space for up to 100 macaques at the Southwest National Primate Research Center.
2. Access to an existing 3,000 square feet ABSL3 that has space for 34 animals and associated clinical, laboratory and necropsy space, a separate BSL3 that houses a Becton Dickinson FACS Aria high-speed cell sorter and a Regional Biocontainment Laboratory that is under construction at the Tulane National Primate Research Center.