Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
and production colony at SFRE, funding was also provided
to support conditioning and trapping facilities in Kenya and
numerous baseline studies on the baboon. The success of
the husbandry and baseline studies established the baboon
as a nonhuman primate model for many areas of biomedical
research and the SFRE as a leading baboon research center.
A reference center for nonhuman primate viruses was
established at SFRE in 1965 and was designated as the
NIH
WHO Simian Viruses Reference Center in 1968
(
Kalter and Heberling, 1971, 1974; Kalter, 1974
). In 1982, a
major research and diagnostic B virus program was also
established there (
Hilliard et al., 1986
). This program was
later relocated to Georgia State University, where, under the
direction of Dr Julia Hilliard, it continued to serve as a US
and international B virus reference center. In 1977, the NIH
awarded a grant to SFRE for developing and operating
a semi-free ranging national baboon breeding program.
While direct NIH support for this program was later dis-
continued, baboons continued to be bred there for meeting
the needs of biomedical researchers both at the SFRE and
elsewhere (W. J. Goodwin, personal communication, 1993).
In 1999, as noted earlier, the SFRE, which by then had
become the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical
Research and in 2011 became the Texas Biomedical
Research Institute, became the eighth center in the NIH's
NPRC program.
e
FIGURE 1.5
Dr Thomas Clarkson in his office with photos of his
former postdoctoral trainees. Through his long tenure at Wake Forest
University's School of Medicine, Clarkson probably trained more veteri-
narians in laboratory animal medicine than any other person in the
specialty, some 20 of whom pursued careers in nonhuman primate medi-
cine. (Photo courtesy of Dr Thomas Clarkson.)
professionals in nonhuman primate based research and
laboratory animal medicine is of comparable import.
Through his years of leadership more than 50 veterinarians
received such training, most of whom became board
certified by the American College of Laboratory Animal
Medicine (ACLAM) (
Figure 1.5
). About 20 of these
trainees made significant contributions to nonhuman
primate medicine and seven became presidents of ACLAM
(T. B. Clarkson, personal communication, 2007). In every
sense of the term, WFUPC was a major primate research
center.
Wake Forest University Primate Center
Beginning in the late 1950s, coincident with the creation of
the NIH's National Primate Research Centers Program, Dr
Thomas Clarkson began developing in his Department of
Comparative Medicine at Bowman Gray School of Medi-
cine, a part of Wake Forest University, a nonhuman primate
resource to support his research. This activity prospered
and grew through the years to the point in 2007 that the
university formally recognized it as the Wake Forest
University Primate Center (WFUPC). During this period,
Dr Clarkson led the development of a research program
based on using monkeys as clinical surrogates to study
diseases of human relevance. The success of the program
has been amply demonstrated and supported through an
uninterrupted succession of competitively awarded grants
and contracts from the NIH, particularly the National
Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, for many years. In 2008,
the center's nonhuman primate population numbered about
1200 rhesus and long-tailed (cynomolgus) macaques and
vervet monkeys, which included breeding colonies estab-
lished and managed to meet in-house research as well as
national resource needs. Its faculty included 14 DVMs and
four PhDs.
While Dr Clarkson's success in establishing this center
represented a remarkable achievement in itself, his record
of using the program to train the next generation of
Duke Primate Center
The Duke Lemur Center of Duke University began as
a small research colony of lemurs obtained from Mada-
gascar in 1960.
Izard (1989)
related that the colony was
initially located at Yale University but was moved to its
present location in 1966 with NIH and National Science
Foundation (NSF) support. The colony has grown through
breeding and acquisitions and presently has the world's
largest collection of prosimians with a population of 250
animals including 20 different species (C. V. Williams,
personal communication, 2008). Financial support is
provided for the center by Duke University, the NSF, and
private donors. Research is the center's primary focus;
however, both education and conservation are integral
components of the center's mission.
Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and
Surgery in Primates
The Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in
Primates (LEMSIP), associated with New York University
