Over 60 years of life-saving research and humane animal care
By Jordana Lenon, Senior Editor, Wisconsin National Primate Research Center As head of the local arrangements committee, Toni Ziegler, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin–Madison and WNPRC, helps introduce the keynote speakers at the American Society of Primatologists meeting in Madison Aug. 21-24, 2019. Against a backdrop of news covering the Amazon wildfires and increasing global tensions …
By Jordana Lenon Nearly 38 million people are living with HIV, according to the World Health Organization. The key word in that sentence is living. While AIDS is still lethal for those who cannot afford or are otherwise not receiving life-saving medicines, a rapidly growing number of people are finally able to describe their illness as …
By Jordana Lenon, Senior Editor, Wisconsin National Primate Research Center Dopamine, a brain chemical associated with reward-motivated behavior, can be increased by the therapeutic drug methylphenidate (MPH), marketed as Ritalin and typically prescribed to children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This increase, in turn, changes the way the brain makes connections among its various …
By Jordana Lenon, Senior Editor, Wisconsin National Primate Research Center Forty years ago today, the United States Environmental Protection Agency banned commercially manufactured polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), acting on evidence of their extreme environmental persistence and toxicity. Five years before the April 19, 1979 ban, New Scientist published “US losing fight against PCBs – a new cancer risk?” The magazine referenced its 1973 …
By Jordana Lenon Preeclampsia is a medical condition that affects pregnant women, raising a mother’s blood pressure and threatening both her life and her baby’s. Accompanying symptoms include water retention and protein in the urine. Rarer, but more severe outcomes can include pain, headaches, nausea or even seizures, liver or kidney failure. Most women can …
By Jordana Lenon See also Castro IM, Ricciardi MJ, Gonzalez-Nieto L, Rakasz EG, Lifson JD, Desrosiers RC, Watkins DI, Martins MA. Recombinant Herpesvirus Vectors: Durable Immune Responses and Durable Protection Against SIVmac239 Acquisition. J Virol. 2021 Apr 28:JVI.00330-21. For the first time, scientists have used a genetically engineered herpesvirus to achieve significant vaccine protection against the AIDS virus …
WNPRC distinguished scientist Toni Ziegler joins the BBC Earth Podcast to explore what drives the bond between parents and infants — drawing on her research into the hormones and behaviors behind parental care in primates. Listen to the episode (her segment runs 6:50–14:15)