The Biomedical Primate Research Institute is a scientific research institute committed to biomedical research on life-threatening or debilitating diseases for man. BPRC contributes to the identification and development of new therapies and medicines. BPRC uses non-human primates for this critical research only when there are no suitable alternatives. In addition, BPRC has an active and expanding program to develop alternatives, following the principles of reduction, refinement and replacement.
Even today in 2018, AIDS continues to be a very serious disease. More than 33 million people have been infected with the HIV virus that causes AIDS, and another 1.6 million were diagnosed in 2016. Nonetheless, a great deal of progress has been achieved over the years, particularly in keeping the disease under control. These results are thanks in part to the chimpanzees used for biomedical research, though use of these primates as laboratory animals has been prohibited since 2006
New culture systems for certain types of brain cell
The death of nerve cells in the brain is responsible for diseases likes Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, also referred to as ‘neurodegenerative diseases’. This fact originally prompted much research to focus on these nerve cells. However, in recent years, it has become increasingly clear that a different cell type plays a key role in disease progression: the brain's immune cells, or ‘microglia’.
In recent years, biomedical research carried out in Europe has seen fewer and fewer experiments performed on monkeys. This trend may result in this type of research being conducted more often outside Europe in the future – for instance, in China. Today, a prominent academic journal entitled The Scientist published an article about experiments involving monkeys being transferred to countries outside Europe.
Malaria parasites are constantly waging war on their hosts. Their objective is to multiply and to jump from host to host – from mosquitoes to human beings. At the same time, the hosts try to protect themselves from the parasite, so as to reduce the symptoms of the disease or prevent falling ill altogether. Scientists have made a very special discovery regarding this protection from malaria parasites.
We are pleased to present the BPRC 2017 Annual Scientific Report
It contains all the research highlights of 2017. For information on the other research areas performed at the BPRC, you will be directed to the website.
Amsterdam is hosting the 22nd edition of the International AIDS Conference this week: AIDS 2018. More than 18,000 people (including researchers, medical specialists and policymakers) from over 180 countries have travelled to the Netherlands to attend this conference, held at the RAI Amsterdam conference and convention centre. They have excellent reason to do so.
Influenza is a disease that should not be underestimated. The World Health Organization (WHO) believes that the flu kills some 290,000 to 650,000 people globally per year. The current vaccines are not always effective, since the composition of the virus constantly changes.
Therefore, we badly need new and improved vaccines – vaccines which effectively protect against several virus variants. BPRC-affiliated reseachers have obtained some encouraging results in this respect.
This week, Belgian newspaper De Morgen featured an article by prominent Belgian scientists who responded to ‘oversimplified reporting on the sensitive subject that is animal testing’. BPRC fully agrees with this article, so we hereby present it to you.
The full article can be read here (Dutch).
In late June, a conference on working with primate models in biomedical research was held in Paris. The day before the conference, the French minister Frédérique Vidal opened a French research centre called IDMIT (which also organised this conference). This constitutes a milestone in European collaboration between biomedical research institutes.
