VERVET RESEARCH COLONY AS A BIOMEDICAL RESOURCE

Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Winston-Salem NC

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Abstract

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.