Vervet Research Colony as a Biomedical Resource
Grant Number: P40OD010965
Research Emphasis/Objectives
The Vervet Research Colony (VRC) is the only NIH-funded national research resource with the mandate to provide the biomedical research community with access to United States-born, known-age, pedigreed, genomically sequenced, pathogen-free Caribbean-origin vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus aethiops sabaeus, also known as African green monkeys, or AGM). The VRC supports investigators by providing access to animals, extensive multisystem clinical phenotyping, biological sample and data repositories, and expertise in the use of nonhuman primate models for translational studies. The VRC has supported critical translational research in a wide variety of disciplines, including aging and Alzheimer’s disease, immunology and vaccine development, diabetes/obesity, biomedical imaging, and genetics, among others. The VRC also serves as a platform for training veterinarians and other professionals in biomedical research, husbandry, clinical care, and the colony/behavioral management of this unique nonhuman primate species. All of the animals in the colony are captive-born and mother-reared in species-typical social groups.
Services Provided
The aims of the VRC resource are to (1) provide the scientific community with access to animals, biological samples, data, and expertise to facilitate the use of vervets/AGMs for a wide range of biomedical research; (2) to provide exceptional training opportunities for veterinarians and researchers interested in using vervets for translational research and to serve as a platform for community and scientific outreach to foster better understanding of the use of nonhuman primates in biomedical research; and (3) to enhance the resource by engaging in applied research focused on continuing genetic and phenotypic characterization of vervets across the lifespan and evaluation of the vervet as a potential translational model in novel research areas. The VRC aims to provide outstanding resources and services to enable local, regional, and national researchers to utilize the VRC for multicategorical research, including the facilitation of on-site studies. The VRC is a critical component of the Wake Forest Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA), which provides administrative support and facilitates the utilization of the VRC resource across the larger CTSA network. The VRC is able to take full advantage of a wide range of existing research facilities within the Wake Forest School of Medicine, including multimodal imaging capabilities (CT, MRI, PET), veterinary and pathology expertise, and genetic and analytic resources.
Contact Information
Vervet Research Colony
Department of Pathology, Section on Comparative Medicine
Wake Forest School of Medicine
Medical Center Blvd.
Winston-Salem, NC 27157
primates@wakehealth.edu
school.wakehealth.edu/Departments/Pathology/Comparative-Medicine/Vervet-Research-Colony
Principal Investigator
Matthew J. Jorgensen, Ph.D.
Phone: 336-716-6935
Fax: 336-716-1515
mjorgens@wakehealth.edu