The Animal Services Division of the WNPRC employs a fully trained staff of veterinarians; veterinary technicians, veterinary pathologists, research technicians, enrichment technicians, and animal care technicians. These individuals, who provide the necessary medical care, daily husbandry, and environmental enrichment for a NHP population of almost 1500 and research support for greater than 95 local, regional, national, and international scientists will compose the Animal Core for the proposed HIVRAD nonhuman primate experiments. The six aims of this Core will be as follows: 1) To provide healthy, genetically characterized rhesus macaques for the projects outlined in this application. 2) To provide contemporary, well-equipped experimental facilities for the performance of the husbandry, clinical, experimental, and necropsy procedures outlined in this application. 3) To provide expert husbandry, veterinary, and technical assistance necessary to support and maintain the SIV infected animals utilized on this project. 4) To ensure compliance with all university and federal regulations regarding the use of NHP in biomedical research. 5) To provide the specialized environmental enrichment needed to maintain the psychological well being of the SIV infected macaques that will be utilized in the proposed projects. 6) To obtain quality biological samples from the experimental animals to fulfill the objectives of the individual projects.
; The personnel of the Animal Core have extensive experience caring for SIV infected macaques and supporting investigators working with the SIV macaques model of HIV infection. Performance of the entire in-vivo NHP component of this grant proposal by the WNPRC Animal Core will allow the investigators to fully focus their attention on the in-vitro aspects of their projects.
