Animal research Content

Exploring Early Stage Alzheimer’s Disease

Andy Fell — June 24, 2024 - 12:30pm

Research in nonhuman primates is opening the possibility of testing treatments for the early stages of Alzheimer’s and similar diseases, before extensive brain cell death and dementia set in. A study published June 21 in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association shows up to a six-month window in which disease progress could be tracked and treatments tested in rhesus macaques.

Report on Heat-Related Primate Death Sent to Regulators

Andy Fell — September 15, 2023 - 9:30am

The University of California, Davis, is submitting an external reviewer’s report to federal regulators following the heat-related death of a rhesus macaque after being transported in a university van.

Revealing a Key Process in How the Brain Forms Memories

Andy Fell — March 29, 2023 - 2:00pm

The process by which memories are formed in the hippocampus region of the brain is complex. It relies on a precise choreography of interactions between neurons, neurotransmitters, receptors and enzymes.

$3.5 Million Grant to Study Disease Causing Vision Loss in Children

Andy Fell — February 23, 2023 - 11:16am

Autosomal dominant optic atrophy (ADOA) is a rare genetic disease that causes progressive and irreversible vision loss in both eyes starting in the first decade of life. There is currently no treatment for ADOA, which affects approximately 3 people per 100,000 worldwide.

51�ԹϺ�� Davis researchers will use a new 3.5 million grant from the National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, to develop a nonhuman primate model of ADOA to speed the development and testing of treatments for humans.

Experimental COVID-19 Vaccine Offers Long-Term Protection Against Severe Disease

Andy Fell — December 01, 2022 - 11:45am

Two-dose vaccines provide protection against lung disease in rhesus macaques one year after they were vaccinated as infants, a new study shows. The work, published in Science Translational Medicine Dec.

NIH Renews Knockout Mouse Project for 3rd Time

Andy Fell — August 15, 2022 - 10:00am

The University of California, Davis, has been awarded just over $12 million from the National Institutes of Health under the third and final five-year phase of the Knockout Mouse Phenotyping Project, or KOMP2. 51�ԹϺ�� Davis is the lead organization in a consortium involving a partnership with The Centre for Phenogenomics in Toronto.

Grant to Create Humanized Mice for HIV Studies

Andy Fell — August 12, 2022 - 2:41pm

Creating a new type of ‘humanized mouse’ that can be infected with HIV is the goal of new project at the Mouse Biology Program of the University of California, Davis. The work is funded with a grant of nearly $500,000 from the National Institutes of Health.

Antibiotic Exposure During Infancy Remodels Immune Response to Respiratory Pathogens

Andy Fell — June 21, 2022 - 11:46am

Human infants are commonly exposed to and treated with antibiotics during the birthing process. However, new research in nonhuman primates may change the way doctors approach antibiotic treatment.

Molecule That Supresses Appetite Post-Exercise Identified

Andy Fell — June 16, 2022 - 3:50pm

Why don’t you feel hungry right after a hard workout? A report published June 15 in Nature describes a molecule called lac-phe that spikes right after exercise, suppresses appetite and in the longer term, reduces obesity. The work was led by researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine and Baylor College of Medicine. The team included Benjamin Moeller and Rick Arthur at the 51�ԹϺ�� Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

Rhesus Monkeys Can Perceive Their Own Heartbeat

Andy Fell — April 11, 2022 - 12:00pm

Rhesus macaques are able to perceive their own heartbeats, according to a new study from the California National Primate Research Center at the University of California, Davis, and Royal Holloway, University of London. The research, published April 11 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, creates a first-of-its-kind animal model of interoception.