Rhesus macaques may be relevant to the development of anti-bacterial therapies

Bacteria can be found everywhere. They can even be found on your body, as well as inside your body. Generally, they will cause you no harm. Quite the contrary, many of them have a positive effect on your health. Some of them do not, though. For instance, bacteria that end up in your wound during surgery may cause very serious problems.

What BPRC means for science, public health and animal welfare

Today is World Day for Laboratory Animals, a day established in 1979 due to people's frustration regarding the use of animals in laboratories. On this day, this sensitive issue is given even more attention than on any other day. It is a day on which we like to shed some light on the necessity and usefulness of the research carried out at BPRC.

What makes MS research so complex?

As of April 2018 Fampyra, a medication taken to treat MS, is no longer covered under standard health insurance policies. (The Dutch television programme TROS Radar recently discussed this here. The news was a blow for MS patients, who use this expensive medication to combat symptoms of their affliction.

Breaking news from Apenheul Primate Park last week: A new gorilla leader has arrived at the zoo. As part of an international breeding programme for gorillas kept in captivity, 33-year-old Bao Bao will be introduced to the zoo's female gorillas over the next few weeks. You see, male gorillas cannot be introduced to females without thorough preparation. But why is that?

Using an eye-catching video, KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation recently raised awareness of the fact that tuberculosis (TB), a disease whose name is often used informally in Dutch swearwords, is unfortunately still very much an issue. Every day, nearly 5,000 patients all over the world die of the consequences of ‘Mycobacterium tuberculosis’ infection.

BPRC researchers have applied a fast and effective method to crack the code of so-called KIRs, which constitutes a major milestone in our exploration of the vital processes taking place in our bodies.

We hope this new knowledge will help us gain a better understanding of diseases affected by KIRs. (KIR is short for ‘killer-cell immunoglobin-like receptors’.) KIRs occur in both human and non-human primates, but are different in rodents.

Our country is currently in the grip of a major flu epidemic. Such epidemics occur every year. Like clockwork, a new flu epidemic will hit us every winter. It is hard to imagine a year passing without a flu outbreak. But why is it so hard to combat flu epidemics?

Thanks to a successful study involving rhesus macaques, the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience has got a step closer to achieving one of its primary objectives: allowing blind people to see without actually using their eyes. The Algemeen Dagblad newspaper reported on the story last week.

Damage to rhesus macaque's brain similar to damage observed in MS patients' brains

We have discovered that toxic oxygen may cause a great deal of damage to a rhesus macaque's brain. To some extent, the way in which these types of oxygen are released differs from the way in which they are released in humans and in marmosets. However, the damage they cause is equally severe.

Genetic properties of dormant form of malaria parasites understood at last

Thirty years after the discovery that certain types of malaria create so-called ‘dormant’ parasites, we have finally obtained a greater insight into their genetic properties. This constitutes a major breakthrough in our search for new medications, which are badly needed in our fight against this serious disease.