Development of simulated 3-D virtual reality testing for baboon AD/dementia and spatial cognition research

NIH Pandemic-Era Grants

Pandemic Era Grants

2023

Document text

Principal Investigator: Larry S. Schlesinger
Organization: TEXAS BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Fiscal Year: 2023
Award: $499,999
Funding agency: NIH Office of the Director

OVERALL ABSTRACT
 The Mission of the Southwest National Primate Research Center (SNPRC) is to improve the health of our
 global community through innovative biomedical research with nonhuman primates (NHPs). One way that
 it achieves this goal is by serving as a global resource to scientists that can benefit from its expertise and
 nonhuman primate colonies. Texas Biomedical Research Institute (Texas Biomed), a private nonprofit
 research organization in San Antonio, TX, has a long history of performing biomedical research using NHPs
 dating back to the 1950s. Because of its success, Texas Biomed was chosen to host the Southwest National
 Primate Research Center in 1999. In doing so, SNPRC became the newest of the NIH funded National
 Primate Research Centers. This application for renewed NIH support of the SNPRC highlights the changes
 made in response to the reviews from the previous P51 renewal. Specifically, there have been several
 critical replacements and hires in leadership. In addition, SNPRC has restructured its internal research
 program into two Scientific Units to align with its expertise and future goals. The new Infectious Disease,
 Immunology and Control (IDIC) Scientific Unit represents research strengths developed over decades of
 primate-based research to bring greater emphasis to these areas. It is already taken advantage this Unit's
 expertise to become a leader in SARS-CoV-2 research. Meanwhile the Comparative Medicine and Health
 Outcomes (CMHO) Scientific Unit is positioned to be a leader in nonhuman primate research in recently
 emphasized research fields including metabolic disease, neuroscience, and aging. Both Scientific Units
 perform research with multiple species of primates including macaques, baboons and marmosets and are
 integrated into the overarching aims of the SNPRC which include research programs involving NHP models
 of human disease not available at other NPRCs. The SNPRC will continue to work towards its mission by i)
 To maintain healthy and well-characterized breeding and research colonies of several NHP (NHP) species
 for biomedical research, and to make them available to the scientific community; ii) To provide broad
 services in primate research to the national research community with an emphasis on specialized
 technologies and capabilities many of which are unique to the SNPRC. We provide these services to
 enhance collaborative opportunities to both internal and external investigators. Our expertise with diverse
 species of NHPs allows us to contribute ideas and perspectives about how best to accomplish the goals of
 research projects, thereby increasing the productivity and efficiency of the research, and strengthening the
 value of the data derived from it; iii) To maintain and to enhance the physical and administrative
 infrastructure of the NPRC so that it can best serve biomedical research. SNPRC has undergone significant
 changes in the Administrative structure in the past year. The benefits of these changes to efficiency and
 productivity are already apparent; iv) To advance training of staff, students, and visitors in the care and use
 of NHPs in biomedical research; v) To contribute to advances in science and translational medicine via
 publication of results obtained from research with NHPs and educational outreach to the public.

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