Mission

To advance knowledge about health and disease in humans and animals through basic biomedical research.

Who we are

The Oregon National Primate Research Center at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) conducts basic and applied biomedical research in three fields frequently identified as priority areas on the nation's agenda for improving human health and well-being:

• fertility control, early embryo development and women's health -- Division of Reproductive Sciences 
  
  
• brain development and degeneration -- Division of Neuroscience
  
  
• newly emerging viruses, especially AIDS-related agents --Division of Pathobiology and Immunology 

As one of eight such centers supported by the National Center for Research Resources of the National Institutes of Health, the Center is a resource, both local and international, for scores of scientists and several academic and research institutions. Its neighbors on the West Campus of OHSU include the Oregon Graduate Institute, the Neurological Sciences Institute and the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute.

Why we exist

• because human overpopulation remains the world's no. 1 health challenge (read more).
  
  
• HIV/AIDS still confounds researchers seeking to develop a vaccine (read more).
  
  
• 35 to 40 million Americans living today will suffer from major depression during their lives (read more).
  
  
• because understanding how the brain regulates food intake and appetite is essential if we are to address several human health problems connected to what we eat (read more).
  
  
• substance abuse during pregnancy continues its upward spiral, and currently we have no means to prevent or reverse its devastating effects in babies, who can't tell their mothers not to use nicotine or cocaine (read more).
  
  
• all of us want to mature without the painful debilitations of old age (read more).