Overview of the California National Primate Research Center

The California National Primate Research Center (CNPRC) is a federally funded biomedical research facility dedicated to improving human and animal health. The CNPRC is part of a network of eight national primate research centers sponsored by the National Center for Research Resources, a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The national primate research centers are a unique resource for researchers studying human disease, offering the opportunity to study causes, effects and potential methods of treatment and prevention in our closest relatives in the animal kingdom. Research done at the CNPRC and other primate centers lays the groundwork for clinical studies, leading to new drugs, therapies and surgical procedures in human medicine.

Established in 1962, the CNPRC is affiliated with the University of California, Davis, and located on 300 acres on the western edge of the campus. The center’s staff of nearly 300 comprises scientists, veterinarians, animal care technicians, specialists in pathology and animal husbandry, graduate and postdoctoral students and laboratory and administrative personnel.

Members of the scientific staff - representing a variety of disciplines such as psychology, physiology, reproductive biology, virology, immunology and genetics - typically hold joint appointments in academic departments on campus as well as at the primate center. Collaborative investigators work in conjunction with staff scientists to conduct specific research projects, and affiliate scientists conduct their independently supported research programs from their home institutions.

The CNPRC has been contributing to the advancement of human and animal health for more than 40 years.

The CNPRC houses and cares for approximately 4,700 monkeys. The majority of these monkeys are rhesus macaques, with small populations of cynomolgus monkeys and South American titi monkeys.