Archived Workshop Reports

This final report summarizes a meeting of the Chimpanzee Sanctuary Working Group held in Bethesda, Maryland on Monday, May 5, 2008. The purpose of the meeting was to provide expert input to the National Advisory Research Resources Council on specific issues related to the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR)/National Institutes of Health (NIH) oversight of the federally supported National Chimpanzee Sanctuary.

On July 8, 2008, the Chimpanzee Sanctuary Working Group toured the Chimp Haven facility with the Chimp Haven staff and Board of Directors. The tour was comprehensive, and all of the facilities were visited — though it did not include entering the interior housing areas.

Over 450 people gathered on the Michigan State University campus July 31 – August 3 for the 2008 National Veterinary Scholars Symposium. This symposium — sponsored in part by NIH, Merck & Co., Inc. (a pharmaceutical company), and Merial (an animal health company) — brought together veterinary students from schools around the United States and Canada who are engaged in formal research programs.

Biomedical research is critical for effective resolution of the health issues which negatively impact our world. From both individual and societal perspectives, serious health issues are a profound detrimental influence on quality of life. In addition, treatment of health issues consumes a significant and increasing share of individual and national resources, thereby limiting options to address other issues of societal concern. Taken together, these factors form a substantial motivation to maximize productivity in biomedical research.

Dr. Stephen Barthold of the University of California at Davis was awarded a conference grant that supported the Seventh Comparative Medicine (CM) Resource Directors Meeting held on October 7 – 8, 2008, at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. Principal Investigators were invited to attend if they held resource-related grants or contracts from NCRR's (now ORIP's) Division of Comparative Medicine. The meeting provided a forum to highlight activities of the DCM-supported resource centers and to exchange additional information. The attendees included the Principal Investigators of NCRR-supported centers funded by contracts, P40, U24, and U42 grant mechanisms, as well as grantees that have resource-related projects funded via the R24 mechanism. During the Seventh CM Resource Directors' Meeting, extensive material was provided on a compact disc prepared by NCRR staff and distributed to the attendees.

The National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), one of the 27 Institutes/Centers of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), supports research to create and develop critical resources, models, and technologies. Within NCRR, the Division of Comparative Medicine (DCM) helps to meet the needs of biomedical researchers for high-quality, disease-free animals and specialized animal research facilities. Through grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts, the DCM supports national primate research centers and their field stations, resource-related projects, development of mammalian and nonmammalian animal model resources, postdoctoral training, and a variety of research projects. Within DCM, the Chimpanzee Management Program (ChiMP) supports long-term, cost-effective care and housing for chimpanzees.

Over 450 people gathered on the NIH campus at the Natcher Auditorium August 3-4 for the 2007 National Veterinary Scholars Symposium. This symposium—sponsored in part by NIH, Merck & Co., Inc. (a pharmaceutical company), and Merial (an animal health company)—brought together veterinary students from schools around the United States and Canada who are engaged in formal research programs. The Symposium was hosted by the University of Pennsylvania and focused on research performed by veterinary students in summer programs, combined degree students, postgraduate veterinarian-scientists, and more senior veterinary scientists.

The purpose of the workshop was to assess the status of germplasm cryopreservation for the target species: mouse, rat, domestic pig, nonhuman primate, and three species of aquarium fishes (Zebrafish, Medaka, and Swordfish).

The purpose of this workshop was to define the need for and properties of physical maps for the rhesus, with an emphasis on a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) map.

Special focuses of the symposium were comparative oncology as well as the contributions of veterinary scientists to public health. Concurrent sessions also focused on immunology, genomics, stem cells, genetic disease, neurobiology, cancer, infectious disease, and lab animal medicine. (August 3 – 4, 2007).

Participants in this workshop explored approaches for enabling researchers to find and use animal and other biological resources more efficiently.

This report summarizes a meeting of the Chimpanzee Sanctuary Working Group held in Bethesda, Maryland on March 9, 2006.

The purpose of the workshop was to define the next generation of genetic tools needed to optimize the use of rhesus macaques in translational research.

This meeting highlighted activities of the NCRR-supported comparative medicine resource centers and other resource-related projects.