As an immunologist studying HIV, latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI), and possible treatments, Dr. Riti Sharan (Figure 1) has been intrigued by the human body since high school, particularly the complex and varied mechanisms by which it defends itself against pathogens.

In 2015 and 2016, the Zika virus outbreak in South America surprised the global community. In pregnant women, the virus led to a high rate of fetal abnormalities, collectively called congenital Zika syndrome. Babies suffered from such birth defects as microcephaly, which is characterized by a small head and an incompletely developed brain. Although the peak of the outbreak has passed, the risk of another outbreak remains because transmission occurs primarily via infected mosquitos.

Newborns can be exposed to HIV—the virus that causes AIDS—during gestation, birth, or breastfeeding. In general, babies born to mothers who test positive for HIV are screened and tested. If found positive, the babies will receive the standard of care: antiretroviral therapy (ART) treatment. Because no cure currently exists for HIV, these babies will receive treatments for the rest of their lives to keep the virus suppressed (i.e.,below detectable levels).

Dr. Mauricio Martins has long been fascinated by the complexity of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and its relevance to public health. “The virus…is able to overcome the most sophisticated defenses in the immune system,” Dr. Martins explained. As an immunologist, he is interested in developing new ways to harness the immune system to eliminate HIV.

The National Primate Research Centers (NPRCs)¹ Consortium is a collaboration among  the California (CNPRC), Oregon (ONPRC), Southwest (SNPRC), Tulane (TNPRC), Washington (WaNPRC), Wisconsin (WNPRC), and Emory (ENPRC) National Primate Research Centers. Funded by the Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Consortium’s mission is to improve global health through biomedical research with NHPs.

Biomedical research with nonhuman primates (NHPs) has resulted in several notable medical breakthroughs.^1–5 NHP research has been essential to our understanding of how the human body responds to infectious and noninfectious diseases and organ transplantation, and to finding therapies for certain cancers and AIDS. NHP biomedical research is made more translatable to human disease using NHP-related laboratory reagents for the characterization and modulation of disease-causing processes.

ORIP grant programs enable veterinarians to participate in biomedical research.

Mutant mouse strains enable scientists to study pathogens as they interact with the human immune system.