Center News

PBS/BBC-based TV production company and evolutionary biologist, Dr. Neil Shubin film at Washington National Primate Research Center. The crew captured the outstanding research of Drs. Tom Burbacher, Kim Grant, Jay Neitz and Maureen Neitz.

Primate Center researchers, research technicians and animal care staff worked with Center Programs and UW Medicine Strategic Marketing & Communications personnel to accommodate the filming while maintaining normal operations.

Although we won’t see the resulting documentary for some time, the Primate Center received laudatory feedback from the author, producer and film crew.

American Journal of Primatology (AJP) published article by Dr. Randy Kyes, Core Staff Scientist with the Washington National Primate Research Center, on the stabilization of critically endangered Sulawesi black macaques. The findings support a shift in population sustainability of the Macaca nigra living in an Indonesian nature reserve after decades of decline.

Read the full article published in the January 2013 issue of AJP. Overview information about the article is available from University of Washington News and Information and The Daily.

Dr. Randy Kyes, head of the WaNPRC’s Division of Global Programs, and colleague Dr. Pensri Kyes offered a three-day, mini-field course titled “College Prep-Field Course in Conservation Biology & Global Health: At the Human-Environment Interface” for 18 middle and high school students from June 4 to June 6 at the Quileute Tribal School in La Push, Washington.

The course, modeled after current UW-level field courses, consisted of daily lectures and related field and lab exercises. Lecture material was presented at an advanced (college-prep) level to give the students a feel for what college-level lectures are like.

“By exposing the students to college-level material, we hope dispel any myths about what a college course is like and in turn give them the confidence to pursue post-secondary education in the sciences,” Kyes said.

Topics included an introduction to conservation biology and global health, field study methods, management and conservation strategies, primate behavior and ecology, the human-wildlife interface, issues in global health, and animal research and translational science.

Based on the success of this first college-prep field course, Kyes plans to expand this outreach education program to other tribal schools in the area.

“We received wonderful feedback from the students and teachers at the Quiluete Tribal School who asked us to make this an annual program at their school and to provide this field course for other tribal schools such as the Makah Tribal School in Neah Bay,” Kyes said.

In addition to heading the WaNPRC’s Division of Global Programs, Kyes is also Director of the Center for Global Field Study. For 22 years, in partnership with his international colleagues, Kyes has conducted annual field courses in the areas of primatology and conservation biology for university students and professionals in a number of countries including Indonesia, Nepal, China, Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Condo, Thailand, and Mexico.

Representatives from the National Primate Research Centers (NPRCs) spoke to an estimated 4,000 people who visited the NPRC booth at the 2nd annual USA Science and Engineering Festival from April 27 to April 29 in Washington D.C.

Billed as “the largest celebration of science in the U.S.,” the festival featured more than 3,000 interactive exhibits, more than 100 stage shows and 33 author presentations. More than 150,000 people attended. President Barack Obama attended a special event at the festival on April 27 to promote STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

The NPRC booth included a flip board with answers to common questions about animal research and a set of pig lungs (healthy and “smoker’s”) to demonstrate the effects of second-hand smoke on lung development. The booth also supplied NPRC bookmarks and information on all eight NPRCs.

The booth was staffed by: Kathy West and Keidri Herring, California National Primate Research Center (CNPRC); Diana Gordon and Steve Gordon (spouse), Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC) ; and Jordana Lenon, Wisconson National Primate Research Center (WNPRC).  Other NPRCs including the Washington National Primate Research Center (WaNPRC) helped organize the booth as part of the NPRC Consortium Outreach Working Group.

“We had many positive comments and interested visitors, and a number of people specifically thanked us for the NPRCs’ research efforts,” West said.

Special visitors to the festival included: The Myth Busters; Arne Duncan Secretary of Education; Bill Nye, the science guy; best-selling authors; astronauts; Nobel Prize-winner Carol Greider; and a rock guitar performance by Dr. Francis Collins, NIH director.

The Center’s Division of Global Programs hosted an exhibit titled “Animals and the Future” at the UW’s “PAWS-on-Science” outreach activities from March 30 to April 1 at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle.

The exhibit included information for children on methods used to study animals in the wild and included hands-on activities with some of the equipment and techniques used by researchers in the field. Children had opportunities to learn about radio telemetry, GPS, trap cameras, and biological sample collection.

“The exhibit demonstrated the close relationship between humans and the environment and how animals can provide the first indication of future environmental impact and global health issues,” said Randy Kyes, head of the division and WaNPRC core staff scientist.

“One of the exhibit activities that was a real hit involved a hands-on demonstration of primate fecal sample collection to look for intestinal parasites,” Kyes said. “Of course no real fecal samples were used, but the fake ‘pooh’ attracted a lot of interest.”

Close to 10,000 people attended the three-day outreach event which showcased almost 50 UW research groups.

The WaNPRC hosted the 29th Annual Symposium on Nonhuman Primate Models for AIDS from Tuesday, Oct. 25 to Friday, Oct. 28 in 2011 at Bell Harbor International Conference Center in Seattle, Washington.

Beatrice Hahn, professor of medicine and microbiology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, was the keynote speaker. Review the abstracts for speakers and posters.

This symposium contributed to the knowledge base on nonhuman primate models that will ultimately result in a vaccine to prevent transmission of HIV and enable treatments for those currently living with AIDS. Review the scientific program.

The WaNPRC thanks the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) for supporting this conference.

For more information, visit the symposium website.

On Friday, July 29, scientists from the Washington National Primate Research Center (WaNPRC) participated in “Collaborations to Understand Research and Ethics (CURE),” a professional development program designed for science teachers. The program was developed by the Northwest Association for Biomedical Research (NWABR) and funded by a Science Education Partnership Award grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).