NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE - CANCER.GOV

Contact Information

Primary Contact

Julie Mattison
Facility Head

Location

31 Center Drive
Poolesville, MD 20837

Overview

The NIA Nonhuman Primate (NHP) Core Facility maintains a colony of rhesus macaques at the National Institutes of Health Animal Center. Established in 2012, the Core's mission is to offer research services supporting multi-disciplinary translational aging projects.  Working with investigators, we develop experimental protocols to evaluate various aspects of NHP aging.  We provide all supportive care for the research animals, complete all regulatory requirements,  conduct in vivo experiments, and collect and organize study data.  

The NIA IRP's 30 years of NHP research experience has made us experts at collecting a wide range of physiological and behavioral data. Our current colony consists of approximately 115 male and female rhesus monkeys, aged 3-30 years, available for short-term intervention studies and experiments to evaluate putative biomarkers of aging.   Along with routine biobanking, all of our animals are evaluated longitudinally to assess changes in physical and functional dimensions that occur with aging.  Thus, we maintain an extensive biorepository and database of historical data available upon request for collaborative projects.

Technical Resources

Imaging Services

Ultrasound, Echocardiogram (2D & 3D imaging), Doppler, EKG, Digital Radiography, Dual-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry (DEXA), Endoscopy, Flouroscopy

Physiological Sampling & Data Collection
  • On-site A1c and blood chemistry panel
  • Whole blood, serum, plasma, PBMC isolation
  • Biopsy collections    
    • Skin, liver, muscle, fat, bone marrow
  • Metabolic regulation
  • Telemetry

Typical Projects

  • Intervention studies (e.g., dietary, drug, exercise)
  • Pre-clinical evaluation
  • Pharmacodynamic/pharmacokinetic
  • Proof of concept
  • Identifying novel models of human disease

Please note we are not limited to these types of studies and welcome opportunities to grow our program.

Publications

  • Croft MA, et al. Sex as a risk factor regarding presbyopia in the rhesus monkey. PLoS One. 2024 19:e0300476. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0300476.
  • Florio MC, et al. Echocardiographic characterization of age- and sex-associated differences in cardiac function and morphometry in nonhuman primates. GeroScience. 2024 doi: doi.org/10.1007/s11357-024-01172-6.
  • Li Y, et al. Sitagliptin elevates plasma and csf incretin levels following oral administration to nonhuman primates: Relevance for neurodegenerative disorders. Geroscience. 2024 Mar 27;  doi:10.1007/s11357-024-01120-4.
  • Lee MR, et al. Oxytocin reduces methylphenidate-induced dorsal striatal dopamine release in male rhesus macaques. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol. 2024 Dec 28;28(1):pyae056. doi: 10.1093/ijnp/pyae056.
  • Stayer-Wilburn O, et al. Dysregulation of astrocytic Aquaporin-1 in the brains of oldest-old rhesus macaques: the NIA caloric restriction study. Geroscience. 2024 Nov 28. doi: 10.1007/s11357-024-01431-6.
  • Yanai H, et al. Short-term periodic restricted feeding elicits metabolome-microbiome signatures with sex dimorphic persistence in primate intervention. Nat Commun. 2024 Feb 5; 15:1088. doi:10.1038/s41467-024-45359-z.
  • Stout MB, et al. Assessing tolerability and physiological responses to 17alpha-estradiol administration in male rhesus macaques. Geroscience. 2023 Aug; 45:2337-2349. doi:10.1007/s11357-023-00767-9.
  • Horvath S, et al. Epigenetic clock and methylation studies in the rhesus macaque. Geroscience. 2021 Oct; 43:2441-2453. doi:10.1007/s11357-021-00429-8.
  • Walker EM, et al. Dysregulation of IL-17/IL-22 effector functions in blood and gut mucosal Gamma Delta T cells correlates with increase in circulating leaky gut and inflammatory markers during cART-treated chronic SIV infection in macaques. Front Immunol. 2021 Feb 25; doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2021.647398.
  • Aon MA, et al. Untangling determinants of enhanced health and lifespan through a multi-omics approach in mice. Cell Metab. 2020 Jul 7;32:100-116.e104. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2020.04.018.
  • Hu Q, et al. Increased drp1 acetylation by lipid overload induces cardiomyocyte death and heart dysfunction. Circ Res. 2020 Feb 14;126:456-470. doi: 10.1161/circresaha.119.315252.
  • Demarest TG, et al. Assessment of nad(+)metabolism in human cell cultures, erythrocytes, cerebrospinal fluid and primate skeletal muscle. Anal Biochem. 2019 May 1;572:1-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ab.2019.02.019.
  • Tosh DK, et al. Design and in vivo characterization of a(1) adenosine receptor agonists in the native ribose and conformationally constrained (n)-methanocarba series. J Med Chem. 2019 Feb 14;62:1502-1522. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.8b01662.
  • Li Y, et al. Pharmacokinetics of exenatide in nonhuman primates following its administration in the form of sustained-release pt320 and bydureon. Sci Rep. 2019 Nov 20;9:17208. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-53356-2.
  • Natarajan N, et al. Effect of dietary fat and sucrose consumption on cardiac fibrosis in mice and rhesus monkeys. JCI Insight. 2019 Sep 19; 4: doi:10.1172/jci.insight.128685.
  • Bodogai M, et al. Commensal bacteria contribute to insulin resistance in aging by activating innate b1a cells. Sci Transl Med. 2018 Nov 14;10. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aat4271.
  • Moon HY, et al. Running-induced systemic cathepsin b secretion is associated with memory function. Cell Metab. 2016 Aug 9; 24:332-340. doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2016.05.025.
  • Abdelmohsen K, et al. Circular rnas in monkey muscle: Age-dependent changes. Aging. 2015 Nov;7:903-910. doi: 10.18632/aging.100834.
  • Ortega-Molina A, et al. Pharmacological inhibition of pi3k reduces adiposity and metabolic syndrome in obese mice and rhesus monkeys. Cell Metab. 2015 Apr 7; 21:558-570. doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2015.02.017.

Keywords

NHPaging studiesanimalcolonyAnimal Resourcesin vitroin vivonia-corenih-corenon-human primatenonhuman primaterhesus monkeystissue