BIOMEDICAL PRIMATE RESEARCH CENTRE (BPRC)

Mission:
The Biomedical Primate Research Centre is an independent non-profit research foundation dedicated to the breeding and use of nonhuman primates as models to study, prevent and/or treat human diseases under the auspices of animal welfare. The primary mission of BPRC is to engage in basic and applied collaborative and contract research in association with academia and industry, both on a national and international level.


The BPRC pool of more than 1000 nonhuman primates includes chimpanzees, rhesus monkeys, cottontop tamarins and common marmosets. The selfsustaining colonies are unique because they are pedigreed, tested for virological status and fully MHC-typed to provide better defined research models. This implies, in the pursuit of better human health care, less animals per experiment and ultimately better primate health care.

NONHUMAN PRIMATES AS PARTNERS IN PRECLINICAL RESEARCH
The BPRC pioneered organ and bone marrow transplantation research. BPRC research led to the first successful bone marrow transplantation in the 70’s. BPRC’s state of the art transplantation models allow for almost easy one to one extrapolation from nonhuman primates to clinical development.

Over the last 30 years, the BPRC has emerged as a centre of excellence for biomedical research using high quality nonhuman primate models. Pharmaceutical companies world-wide have benefited from the BPRC’s expertise in the design and implementation of research protocols within their drug development programmes.
The BPRC has three main research areas. The Department of Immunobiology investigates the genetic and immunological basis of chronic diseases and issues related to transplantation biology. The Department of Parasitology is involved in the development and testing of vaccines and drugs against human parasites, such as Plasmodium species and Schistosoma and in vaccine and diagnostic development for tuberculosis. The Department of Virology studies virus-host interactions with specific regard to the development of protective immunity.
Viral, bacterial and parasitic infections still provide a fearful threat to mankind around the world. The BPRC has the expertise to contribute to the development of drugs and vaccines against infectious diseases like AIDS, hepatitis and malaria. The BPRC has facilities up to P4 safety levels for infectious materials and up to D2 levels for recombinant DNA experiments.

Major breakthroughs in autoimmune disease research have been demonstrated at the BPRC. The centre has developed nonhuman primate models for diseases like arthritis and multiple sclerosis. These models have shown to be highly valuable for safety and efficacy testing of novel immunotherapy protocols.

Visiting
adress BPRC:



Postal address
BPRC:



Telephone:
Fax:
E-mail:
Contact:

Lange Kleiweg 139
2288 GJ Rijswijk
The Netherlands


P.O. Box 3306
2280 HV Rijswijk
The Netherlands


+31 15 284 2699
+31 15 284 3999
bontrop@bprc.nl
Dr. Ronald E. Bontrop