# Husbandry and Management Core-Maintenance of the SPF Breeding Colonies at Yerkes National Primate Research Center

> **NIH NIH U42** · EMORY UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $650,633

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Husbandry and Management Core
 The Yerkes National Primate Research Center (YNPRC) has a long and successful history of breeding
rhesus macaques of Indian origin for HIV/AIDS research. This success can be attributed, in part, to continuous
U24/U42 support for the management and care of this colony. Since 2002, this support has allowed the rhesus
macaque breeding colony at the Yerkes NPRC Field Station to establish a colony pedigree, to transition to full
SPF status, to institute MHC profiling, and to validate a rapid in-house Herpes B virus (Macacine herpesvirus
1) screening protocol. Over the past 4 years, the number of individual NIH-funded HIV/AIDS-related projects
requiring SPF rhesus monkeys has remained relatively steady, and we are now seeing a post-COVID increase
in animal requests. Thus, the main objective of the Husbandry and Management Core for the current U42
application is to leverage the resources provided by the U42 to maximize production of SPF Indian rhesus
monkeys and facilitate allocation of these animals for NIH-funded HIV/AIDS research. As part of Aim 1, the
Husbandry and Management Core will continue to maintain the SPF status and genetic health as well as the
physical and social health of the Colony in order to produce high quality animals with desired MHC genotypes
for HIV/AIDS research. As part of Aim 2 to maximize animal production potential, the Husbandry and
Management Core will revise the strategies for improving the social competence of young future male breeders
and for forming multi-male cohorts of breeders to improve the success of male introductions, and implement a
social network analytical approach to assess stability in our large, compound-housed breeding groups, such as
fragmentation in matrilines, to improve social stability and avoid the detrimental effect that social instability has
on production. Finally, as part of Aim 3 to take an integrated approach to managing colony data sets, the
Husbandry and Management Core will transition away from storing socialization and social behavioral datasets
in compartmentalized spreadsheets to instead store them in the web-accessible Colony Informatics resource
and implement a project management dashboard to facilitate manipulation and summary of data regarding
animal availability, requests, and assignments to facilitate tracking and reporting. The success of these aims
will ensure that the SPF colony at YNPRC will continue to grow and provide a reliable supply of healthy and
genetically well-characterized rhesus macaques for HIV/AIDS research.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10766162
- **Project number:** 5U42OD011023-21
- **Recipient organization:** EMORY UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Joyce Kimberly Cohen
- **Activity code:** U42 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $650,633
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2002-09-30 → 2026-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10766162

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10766162, Husbandry and Management Core-Maintenance of the SPF Breeding Colonies at Yerkes National Primate Research Center (5U42OD011023-21). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10766162. Licensed CC0.

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