The National Institutes of Health invested millions of dollars this summer in breeding programs, with plans to invest tens of millions more. More than $4 million of that went to Texas Biomed to boost its rhesus monkey population.
BONNIE PETRIE: Texas Biomedical Research Institute broke ground this week on a new facility that will allow them to breed more nonhuman primates for medical research amid a nationwide shortage of the animals. The four building complex — including an 18,000 foot animal care building — will be part of the Southwest National Primate Research Center.
“This is a huge project for Texas biomed” said SNPRC’s director, Deepak Kaushal. Kaushal said the current facilities, which house around 2,500 nonhuman primates, need an upgrade, and the additional space will allow them to breed even more animals. “This building, when constructed, will be a modern building that will allow us to house between 800 to 1,000 more nonhuman primates,” Kaushal said.
The breeding program is important, Kaushal pointed out, because there is a serious shortage of nonhuman primates for research in the United States, including baboons, marmosets, and, most acutely, rhesus monkeys, which are ideal for studying infectious diseases like HIV and COVID-19.
The federal government is also worried about this shortage, according to the science journal “Nature,” and the National Institutes of Health invested millions of dollars this summer in breeding programs, with plans to invest tens of millions more. More than $4 million of that went to Texas Biomed to boost its rhesus monkey population, which Kaushal said have been critical in the nation’s fight against COVID-19.
“Some of those monkeys were vaccinated with multiple Pfizer mRNA vaccines, and we found that these Pfizer vaccines were very efficacious,” Kaushal said. “Then finally one of them actually ended up being in our arms. Millions of people have received it”…
But animal research is controversial, and animal rights activists say it is unnecessary and cruel… SNPRC’s director Deepak Kaushal understands some people are vehemently opposed to their facility even existing, but he says they take excellent care of the animals there… Kaushal added that this new animal care complex — which will be completed in early 2023 — will not just benefit researchers and those who have diseases and need treatment, it will benefit the animals living there, too. SOURCE…
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