Continuing research in treatments for neuronal death and decline, Dr. Mark Tuszynski has found promise in the therapeutic delivery of genes, and most recently with entorhinal brain-derived neurotrophic factor.

Nagahara AH,Merrill DA,Coppola G, Tsukada S, Schroeder BE, Shaked GM, Wang L, Blesch A, Kim A, Conner JM, Rockenstein E, Chao MV, Koo EH, Geschwind D, Masliah E, Chiba AA, Tuszynski MH. Neuroprotective effects of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in rodent and primate models of Alzheimer's disease. Nat Med 2009 Mar;15(3):331-7. Epub 2009 Feb 8

Understanding how temperament affects health – early life temperament can accurately predict whether or not an animal will develop symptoms of asthma later in life, possibly leading to screening and medication to predict and prevent asthma in children.

J. Capitanio; L.Miller; E. Schelegle; S. Mendoza; W. Mason; D. Hyde. Inhibited temperament in infant monkeys is associated with airway hyper-responsiveness. Submitted, 2009


Research into the causes of autism – linking abnormalities in the amygdala and hippocampus to symptoms of autism.

M.D. Bauman, J.E. Toscano, B.A. Babineau, W.A. Mason, D.G. Amaral. Emergence of sterotypies in juvenile monkeys (Macaca mulatta) with neonatal amygdala or hippocampus lesions. Behavioral Neuroscience, 122(5):1005-15, 2008


Understanding the mechanisms of stress and the physiological responses in children with Tourette Syndrome.

B.A. Corbett, S.P. Mendoza, C.L. Baym, S.A. Bunge, S. Levine. Examining cortisol rhythmicity and responsivity to stress in children with Tourette Syndrome. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 33(6):810-820, 2008

Studies to design a combination HIV and Tuberculosis (Tb) vaccine. Successful vaccine testing in the monkeys could lead to a solution of a major worldwide health crisis – protecting millions of children against HIV and Tb simultaneously.

K. Abel. The rhesus macaque pediatric SIV infection model - a valuable tool in understanding infant HIV-1 pathogenesis and for designing pediatric HIV-1 prevention strategies. Curr HIV Res. 2009 Jan;7(1):2-11. Review.


Improved immunization strategies for cytomegalovirus, a disease that affects many AIDS patients

K. Abel, L. Strelow, Y. Yue, M. K. Eberhardt, K.A. Schmidt, and P. A. Barry. A heterologous DNA prime/protein boost immunization strategy for rhesus cytomegalovirus vaccine. Vaccine, 26:6013-25, 2008.

Y. Yue, Z. Wang, K. Abel, J. Li, L. Strelow, A. Madarino, M.K, Eberhardt, K.A, Schmidt, D.J Diamond, and P. A. Barry. Evaluation of recombinant modified vaccinia Ankara virus-based rhesus cytomegalovirus vaccines in Rhesus macaques. Med. Microbiol. Immunol., 197:117-23, 2008.


Various studies refining the effectiveness of SIV vaccines, to lead to a successful vaccine in humans.

K. Abel, K. Van Rompay, J. Eastlick, J. Moore, M. Lemieux, K. Schmidt, P. Earl, L. Buonocore-Buzzelli, B. Moss, N. Rose, J. Rose, M.B. McChesney, P. Kozlowski, M.L. Marthas. VSV/MVA vaccine rapidly elicits SIV antibodies and local and systemic SIV T cell responses in macaque neonates but does not prevent SIV dissemination after oral challenge. Retrovirology, 5(Suppl 1): O15 (April 9), 2008.

J. Fairman, J.Moore, M. Lemieux, K. Van Rompay, Y. Geng, J. Warner, and K. Abel. Enhanced in vivo immunogenicity of SIV vaccine candidates with cationic liposome-DNA complexes in a rhesus macaque pilot study. Hum Vaccin, 14;5(2), 2008.

K. Van Rompay, L. Durand-Gasselin, L. Brignolo, A.S.Ray, K. Abel, C. Cihlar, A. Spinner, C. Jerome, J.Moore, B.P. Kearney, M.L. Marthas, H. Reiser, N. Bishofberger. Chronic administration of tenofovir to rhesus macaques from infancy throughout adulthood and pregnancy: summary of pharmacokinetics, biological and virological effects. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 52:3144-3160, 2008.

An ongoing sperm banking project is focused on preservation of genetic diversity for macaques at the National Primate Research Centers. Publications describing improvements in the cryopreservation of rhesus macaque sperm highlight topics such as pre-freezing conditions and effective cryoprotectants.

Dong Q, Correa L, and VandeVoort CA. Rhesus monkey sperm cryopreservation with TEST-yolk extender in the absence of permeable cryoprotectant. Cryobiology 58:20-27, 2009

Triclocarban (TCC) has been used in personal care products for more than 40 years and is accumulating in the environment and has recently been characterized as having unique endocrine disruptive properties.

Studies have identified new ways to differentiate human embryonic stem cells toward kidney precursors for transplantation and new techniques for labeling stem and progenitor cells for PET imaging. In vivo imaging studies provide new ways to study stem cell trafficking post-transplantation that have direct application for new human therapies.

Batchelder CA, Lee CCI, Matsell DG, Yoder MC, and Tarantal AF. Renal ontogeny in the rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) and directed differentiation of human embryonic stem cells towards kidney precursors. Differentiation 78:45-56, 2009

Huang J, Lee CCI, Sutcliffe JL, Cherry SR, and Tarantal AF. Radiolabeling monkey CD34+ hematopoietic and mesenchymal stem cells with 64Cu-PTSM for microPET. Mol Imaging 7: 1-11, 2008.

The Northwestern University Specialized Center of Research (SCOR) on Sex and Gender Factors Affecting Women’s Health included investigators from the CNPRC and Wisconsin NPRC, and focused on the etiology of polycystic ovary syndrome. This SCOR encompassed human and nonhuman primate studies, and included the monkey model to explore the syndrome proposed to be associated with prenatal androgen excess.

Abbott DH, Barnett DK, Levine JE, Padmanabhan V, Dumesic DA, and Tarantal AF. Endocrine antecedents of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in fetal and infant prenatally androgenized female rhesus monkeys. Biol Reprod 79:154-163, 2008

Abbott DH, Tarantal AF, and Dumesic DA. Fetal, infant, adolescent, and adult phenotypes of polycystic ovary syndrome in prenatally androgenized female rhesus monkeys. Am J Primatol 71:1-9, 2009