40 years of health discoveries:
Top contributions of past five years

ONPRC scientists conduct basic research. They have built a record of accomplishment, most often in the form of contributions to the groundwork for pharmaceutical and clinical studies. Click below to learn how, just in recent years, they have:

• Discovered early indicator of maternal infection that may serve as method for preventing premature birth
  
  
• Advanced the possibility of ovarian tissue transplants as a means of preserving fertility for cancer patients
  
  
• Discovered that the hormone leptin, which is involved in fetal development, may influence later life obesity risk
  
  
• Found that the smallpox vaccine provides long-term protection
  
  
• Confirmed that physical exercise is beneficial to brain health
  
  
• Uncovered new information to help menopausal women suffering from depression
  
  
• Identified a virus that serves as a model for understanding and preventing HIV infection in humans
  
  
• Been responsible for major nutritional improvements in infant formula used around the world
  
  
• Identified an unrecognized risk for heart disease and tested diets to help reduce that risk
  
  
• Mapped brain pathways that regulate hunger, furthering our understanding of eating disorders and obesity
  
  
• Developed therapeutic strategies and surgical techniques to prevent premature births
  
  
• Developed new, effective methods of contraception that don't suppress the normal menstrual cycle
  
  
• Established models for assisted reproductive technologies that facilitate studies on egg and sperm biology, stem cells and early embryonic development and, at the same time, provide techniques for producing genetically identical monkeys and nonhuman primate models for health research
  
  
• Discovered a monkey version of the newly identified human  herpes virus 8 (HHV8) --a discovery that provides scientists a model for investigating how the human virus causes Kaposi's sarcoma in AIDS patients
  
  
• Contributed valuable data to the development of GnRH analogs - drugs for such problems as endometriosis and breast cancer - and helped find the cause and cure of a form of male infertility