The conduct of advanced research involving biological materials from nonhuman primates requires open access to high quality, well documented samples. Until now, access has been opportunistic and quality control highly variable. This Infrastructure Award will establish an Integrated Primate Biomaterials and Information Resource that will be developed through a collaboration among Coriell Institute for Medical Research (Coriell), the International Species Information System (ISIS), Princeton University (PU), the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), and the Zoological Society of San Diego (ZSSD). The Resource will provide primate biomaterials such as DNA and cell lines for research that takes advantage of emerging genetic technologies and the human genome sequence to probe questions of human origins, primate phylogeny and biogeography, conservation, and human behavior and cognition. With policy and priorities guided by a broadly based Scientific Advisory Committee, the Resource collaboration includes institutions that bring expertise in biomaterials banking, bioinformatics, information access, and in primate conservation, behavior, and ecology. Resource priorities include high levels of quality control and wide accessibility to researchers who would not otherwise have access to necessary materials for research, conservation, and capacity-building. The collection will seek to provide a balance among diversity and depth of sampling combined with maximal associated information or other available with samples.
