Research with Animals at Emory University







Recent findings and advances
  • New strategies for diabetes treatment: Transplant specialists at the Emory School of Medicine are developing new methods for treating diabetes with the goal of eliminating the need for lifelong immunosuppressive therapy. Currently, diabetics who undergo pancreas transplants subsequently must take immunosuppressive drugs to avoid organ rejection. The therapy leaves patients highly susceptible to life-threatening viral and bacterial infections. Using rhesus monkeys, Emory scientists are developing a novel molecule that will allow the body’s immune system to selectively turn off its organ rejection response while maintaining its normal protective defenses

  • Night-lights in the nursery: Night-lights do not cause nearsightedness in infant monkeys, according to a 2001 study by vision researchers at the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center at Emory. The findings appear to contradict a widely-publicized 1999 study that concluded human infants who sleep with night-lights or other room lights are five times more likely to develop myopia. Rhesus monkeys were used because the way in which in their eyes develop during the first six months of life closely corresponds to the development of infant human eyes from birth to two years

  • The genetics of social behavior: Scientists at Emory’s Center for Behavioral Neuroscience and the Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory have found that complex social behaviors such as social attachment can be increased by transferring a specific gene into a particular region of the brains of voles, which are small rodents. This ongoing research provides key clues into the brain circuitry of social behavior, the disruption of which may result in psychiatric diseases, such as autism, that are characterized by social problems.

  • Stimulating brain neuron growth: Emory University researchers have used growth factor to stimulate the growth of new neurons in the brains of adult rats. Most neurons in the forebrains of mammals are formed before birth, but certain regions of the adult brain apparently can produce new neurons. The researchers hope these findings may lead to the development of ways to produce large numbers of new neurons to replace those damaged by injury or disease in localized parts of the brain.

  • One step closer to an AIDS vaccine: Researcher Harriet Robinson, Ph.D., of the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center at Emory has developed a promising DNA-based vaccine that prevents monkeys from developing AIDS. The vaccine doesn’t prevent infection, but controls the amount of virus in the body, thus minimizing damage to the immune system and preventing the development of infections and diseases that typify full-blown AIDS. The success of the monkey studies will allow the vaccine to move into the first stage of human testing later this year.

Examples of ongoing animal-based research

  • AIDS vaccine: Researchers at the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center at Emory have tested a DNA-based vaccine in monkeys that prevented them from developing AIDS. The vaccine will move into the first stage of human testing later this year. Also, the Vaccine Research Center at Emory is conducting human clinical trials of a different candidate AIDS vaccine developed by Merck & Co.

  • Malaria vaccine: Every year, malaria infects 300 to 500 million people in more than 90 countries, and kills millions of people, mostly children. As treatments and other prevention methods such as pesticide use have become less effective or unavailable, the need for a malaria vaccine has become increasingly urgent. Emory Vaccine Research Center researchers are working to develop a safe, effective vaccine, and are conducting studies using non-human primates.

  • Addiction treatment: No medication exists to treat cocaine addiction, which has proven extraordinarily tenacious and difficult to resolve. Researchers at Yerkes hope to develop an effective medication by learning more about how cocaine works in the brains of monkeys.

  • Gastric reflux and esophageal cancer: New drugs for the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux, commonly called acid reflux, provide relief by neutralizing the stomach acid that backs up into the esophagus. In doing so, however, these drugs may mask symptoms of severe reflux, which appears to be linked to a precancerous condition, Barrett’s esophagus, that in turn can lead to esophageal cancer. Gastrointestinal disease experts at Emory are using pigs to study the association between gastric reflux and Barrett’s esophagus and to develop new surgical bypass techniques to treat reflux.

  • Parkinson’s disease: Research with rhesus monkeys at Emory has helped dramatically improve the neurosurgical treatment of motor function problems associated with Parkinson’s disease. Neurologists at Emory continue to use animals to learn how Parkinson’s affects specific neural pathways and to refine and develop more advanced treatments.

  • Mental health: Researchers with the Emory University Conte Center for the Neuroscience of Mental Disorders are using rodents and non-human primates to study how early-life risk factors may lead to vulnerability to psychiatric disorders in adulthood. The scientists have found that stress in childhood can result in permanent changes in brain chemistry that create vulnerability to affective disorders such as depression or post-traumatic stress disorder.

  • Rehabilitation of spinal cord injury: Emory physiologist T. Richard Nichols has accumulated substantial evidence through studies of cats that the spinal cord and the musculoskeletal system are responsible for maintaining posture and balance. This work ultimately will provide the basis for designing rehabilitation strategies for patients with spinal cord injury.

  • Immune system development and function: Immunologists at Emory use transgenic mice, whose immune systems have been genetically altered to mimic those of humans, to study how the immune system develops and how it works. Their work translates into clinical applications over the entire spectrum of medicine, ranging from organ transplantation to vaccine development.

    Questions and answers about research with animals at Emory

    A closer look at one researcher's work


    Questions and answers with Physiology Professor T. Richard Nichols



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