This will provide a new research resource to many investigators and contribute to a reduction in the number of NHP needed by the research community since multiple investigators will be able to take advantage of each animal. The tissue will allow investigators to test hypotheses in a model closely related to humans by providing access to NHP tissue without the expense of obtaining and housing the animals. This is an extremely important aspect of this project, as the supply of NHP in general, and rhesus macaques in particular, is very limited. The tissues will be collected under strictly controlled protocols to ensure the integrity of the tissue. Tissue will be flash-frozen without fixation or fixed and embedded, to fit the needs of a wide-range of molecular and histochemical techniques.
