Former WRPRC director and distinguished psychologist Robert Goy dies

Goy was a professor of psychology and director of the Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center at UW-Madison from 1971 to 1989. His seminal research advanced the notion that exposure to the male sex hormone testosterone during fetal development "organized" the developing nervous system to express masculine characteristics. This basic principle of hormone action has been found to operate in animals from lizards to nonhuman primates and is an important aspect of human development. In addition, Goy made significant contributions to our understanding of the role that early social experience plays in developing the expression of masculine and feminine behavior. For more than 35 years, Goy mentored Ph.D. students and postdoctoral fellows who have become leaders in the fields of primate behavior and neuroendocrinology. As a long time member of the NIH psychobiology research panel, Goy was a strong and consistent supporter of innovative research in this field. Many of today’s established researchers benefited from Goy’s ability to recognize new and exciting research approaches before they became widely accepted.

Goy was born in Detroit and received his undergraduate and doctoral degrees in psychology from the University of Michigan in 1947 and University of Chicago in 1953, respectively. He then joined the laboratory of W.C. Young at the University of Kansas, where some of the most important advances in the emerging field of behavioral endocrinology were made over the next 10 years.

In the early 1950s, W.C. Young’s laboratory team, through extensive studies of guinea pigs, demonstrated that the presence of specific gonadal hormones turned on, or activated, adult patterns of reproductive behavior. Using inbred guinea pig strains, Goy, along with Jaqueline Jakway, demonstrated that the sensitivity to these activating effects was genetically regulated. Scientists are only now beginning to understand the mechanisms producing this sensitivity.

In 1959, Goy and Young, with colleagues Charles Phoenix and Arnold Gerall, published the first unambiguous evidence that prenatal exposure to elevated levels of the male sex hormone testosterone masculinized both the reproductive anatomy and behavior of genetically female offspring. This landmark study advanced the argument that the fetal hormonal environment permanently organizes the developing nervous system to produce either masculine or feminine patterns of behavior. This organizational effect of hormones became one of the key concepts in behavioral neuroendocrinology and revolutionized the way in which hormonal influences on behavior were subsequently studied. The concept radically altered views of human sexual development when scientists recognized that human genetic anomalies could alter the natural prenatal hormonal environment and permanently alter an individual’s anatomy and behavior.

In 1963, Young’s laboratory group moved to the newly established Oregon Regional Primate Research Center outside Portland to expand its sexual differentiation studies to nonhuman primates. To prepare for this next research phase, Goy had been a visiting scientist at the Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center from 1961 to 1963. At the WRPRC, he studied the measurement of sex differences in juvenile behavior of rhesus monkeys with noted primate psychologist Harry Harlow.

In 1964, Goy, Young and Phoenix began investigating the effects of prenatal hormone alterations in rhesus monkeys. They produced the first masculinized genetic female rhesus monkey and demonstrated that the principles developed in guinea pigs applied to nonhuman primates and, by extension, to humans. These landmark studies also showed that differences in male and female juvenile rhesus monkeys’ social behavior, which occur when the young monkeys are not secreting gonadal hormones, were organized by the prenatal hormone environment. This was the first clear evidence that prenatal hormones actually altered the structure of the nervous system, instead of changing its sensitivity to the activating effects of gonadal hormones. Subsequent work in other laboratories throughout the world have unequivocally provided evidence of specific structural changes within the developing nervous system—changes organized by hormones during the period of sexual differentiation.

Following W.C. Young’s death in 1966, Goy headed the Division of Reproductive Physiology and Behavior at the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center. Goy, Phoenix, and colleague John Resko continued their research into elucidating the role of gonadal hormones in the activation and organization of behavioral sex differences.

In 1971, Goy succeeded Harry Harlow as Director of the Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center and continued in this role for 18 years. At Wisconsin, Goy initiated studies on how early experience affects the development of adult reproductive behavior in rhesus monkeys. He was the first to recognize that the standard laboratory rearing paradigm in common use for rhesus monkeys produced appropriate juvenile behavior but deficient adult sexual behavior, particularly for males. So Goy developed a unique laboratory rearing environment using carefully selected groups of mothers and infants. The environment preserved important aspects of the social environment a rhesus monkey would normally encounter in its natural habitat. With colleagues David Goldfoot and Kim Wallen, Goy demonstrated the important role that early experience plays in the expression of juvenile and adult sex differences in behavior.

This research, in addition to continuing studies of the prenatal hormone role in behavioral development, advanced the notion that the prenatal hormonal environment produces behavioral predispositions which are then shaped and molded by early social context. In Goy’s view, both biological and social influences were crucial to the development of masculine and feminine patterns of behavior.

In 1986, Goy, with colleagues Mary McBrair and Fred Bercovitch, published a study demonstrating that very short prenatal exposure to androgen could masculinize juvenile patterns of behavior. Most importantly, by altering the time during gestation when the female fetus was exposed to androgen, Goy masculinized the female offspring’s behavior without masculinizing her reproductive anatomy or neuroendocrine function. This remarkable finding was the first to separate the psychological effects of prenatal hormonal manipulations from their effects on reproductive anatomy. This separation between physical and psychological effects suggests a possible cause of human transsexuality.

In addition to his pioneering contributions to our understanding of sexual differentiation, Goy made equally important contributions to the study of the neural control of sexual behavior. He demonstrated with colleagues Jeff Slimp and Ben Hart that medial preoptic lesions eliminate male rhesus monkey sexual behavior without eliminating sexual motivation. Similarly, with colleagues Ei Terasawa, Stan Wiegand, Thom Nass, Bill Byne, and Ruth Bleir, Goy contributed to our understanding of the organization of the endocrine hypothalamus and its role in regulating the ovarian cycle.

Throughout his career, Goy championed the role that hormones play in activating sex-typical patterns of behavior and how the hormonal environment of an individual is a critical component of one’s psychological makeup. In the 1970s, the male response to changes in female physical attractiveness was thought to control rhesus monkey sexuality. Yet, during this time, Goy presented the first evidence that the female’s ovarian hormones modulated her own sexual motivation, not simply how attractive she was to a male. This view of hormonally modulated female sexual motivation, which took 15 years to demonstrate definitively, solidified our understanding of both human and nonhuman primate sexuality.

Following his retirement in 1989, Goy remained active in behavioral neuroendocrinology. He supported the fledgling Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology and collaborated on studies at the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center that addressed the effect of prenatal suppression of naturally occurring androgens in fetal males. He also collaborated with the Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center and the Mayo Clinic on the role of prenatal androgen excess in the development of infertility and diabetes in women.

During his tenure as director, Goy mentored numerous graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and visiting scientists in behavioral endocrinology and primate development. Goy combined through his teachings a caring and thoughtful personal style with a sparkling and masterful intellect. Many of his students have become leaders in the fields of neurobiology, neuroendocrinology, behavioral endocrinology and primatology.

Goy served as a frequent consultant to the NIH and various professional societies. He became the second editor of Hormones and Behavior following Frank Beach’s retirement. He remained editor until the publication became the official journal of the Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology in 1996. Goy was also an editorial consultant for several scientific journals and books, and he authored or co-authored nearly 200 scientific articles.

Awards Goy received included the Kenneth Craik Award in Physiological Psychology from Cambridge University and the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award by the American Psychological Association. The latter is awarded to individuals who demonstrate "outstanding theoretical or empirical contributions to basic or applied research in psychology." Last year, Goy was honored for his lifelong contributions at a special symposium of the Inaugural meeting of the Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology.

—Kim Wallen, Ph.D., Emory University, Department of Psychology,
and Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center

***

Robert Goy is survived by his wife Barbara (Perry) of Madison; their three children, Michael (Kathleen Dunlap), a professor of physiology at the University of North Carolina, Elizabeth (James Bane), an intern in clinical psychology in Portland, Oregon, and Peter (Gwyn Tuttle), a physician in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. He is also survived by seven grandchildren, Perry, Lydia, Robin, and Elly Goy, Emily, Frederick, and Claire Bane; his sisters; five well-loved nieces and nephews; and many lifelong friends and colleagues. 

Memorial services will be held Sunday, March 14, 1999, from 1 to 3 pm in the Community Terrace Room at the Monona Terrace Convention Center, 1 John Nolan Drive, Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.A.

Memorial contributions may be made in Bob’s name to the Second Harvest Food
Bank of Southern Wisconsin, 2802 Dairy Drive, Madison, WI 53718; (608) 223-9121.

Research Project focus: Aging and Metabolic Disease— Dietary restriction studies enter second decade 

Yet...There’s more to it than that. 

Since the 1930s, dietary restriction has proven to be the only intervention that successfully retards aging in mammals. Laboratory mice and rats have been the species studied most extensively. Now monkeys are playing a role. 

Yet the goal of the Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center’s long-term dietary restriction (DR) studies is not only to lengthen life, but to better understand the exact, complex biological mechanisms through which DR affects the body. How might it prevent oxidative damage to mitochondria and keep the aging physique healthy—even more spry and “youthful?” How does it alter insulin sensitivity and postpone or prevent diabetes? How does it affect bone mineral content? Does it increase or lessen the risk for osteopororis? This research may lead to the discovery of new ways to treat or prevent diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, degenerative disorders, cardiovascular disease, and other banes of aging. 

One long-term goal is to test the oxidative stress hypothesis of aging—that oxidants resulting from the metabolic combustion of nutrients in the mitochondria fray its DNA and spur senescence and its deleterious effects. Another aim is to help develop therapies to mimic the most beneficial results of DR—better antioxidant drugs, for example, if the oxidative stress theory holds up, or better treatments to safely increase insulin sensitivity and prevent diabetes. Such studies could also advance treatments for heart disease, cancer and degenerative diseases that might be linked to DNA deletions or mutations caused by free radicals or other genetic or metabolic processes. 

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) in Baltimore is conducting a similar trial, led by George Roth, Ph.D., Donald Ingram, Ph.D., and Mark Lane, Ph.D. Monkeys in three different age groups have been studied there since 1987. These groups include many monkeys that began DR while still growing. The Wisconsin study, by contrast, follows one group of male monkeys that began DR in young adulthood. These monkeys, studied since 1989, are now entering late middle age. Researchers added a group of females and an additional group of adult males to the study in 1994. WRPRC researchers are also basing the monkeys’ diets on their past individual intakes, whereas the NIA study is using recommended food intakes based on age and body weight. Either way, it’s not difficult to tell the controls apart from the dieters. 

Yet these monkeys are not dieting as many people do. Long-term, moderate DR in humans without malnutrition is difficult to accomplish in large groups of people under controlled conditions. Problems with human studies include, but are not limited to, accurate reporting, environmental control, compliance, and long-term participation. 
 

What have we found? 

They have less adiposity (abdominal fat), better glucose regulation and lower cholesterol than their age-matched controls. Preliminary results show that they are less likely to be arthritic. The lean monkeys show favorable plasma lipid profiles and lipoprotein composition. The binding of plasma low density lipoproteins (LDLs) with arterial proteoglycans, a major risk factor associated with atherosclerosis, is inhibited in these animals. They also show lower plasma concentrations of the fat-derived hormone leptin. 

The now middle-aged restricted animals are staying fit, while a few of the controls, allowed to eat as much as they want, are already accumulating excess body fat. Another 10 to 15 years will pass before researchers observe any life extension in the restricted animals. 
 

Who’s doing what? 

One major study, led by Rick Weindruch, Ph.D., working with Judd Aiken, Ph.D., and Terry Oberly, Ph.D., addresses mitochondrial contributions to age-associated losses of skeletal muscle. Such losses of skeletal muscle, called sarcopenia, are the leading cause of immobility and injuries in the elderly. Weindruch and his colleagues have found that mitochondrial DNA deletions and abnormalities increase with age in rhesus skeletal muscle and likely contribute to muscle fiber atrophy (See figure, p. 3). Although this work has involved our non-DR monkeys, as the restricted animals aren’t yet old enough, preliminary data will support future studies on the expected beneficial effects of DR on aging skeletal muscle. 

Weindruch discovered with Rajindar Sohal, Ph.D., of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, that dietary restriction appears to lower oxidative stress and damage in skeletal muscle of mice. They are now conducting similar studies in monkeys. They plan to test the hypothesis that oxidative damage to cells is not random, but highly selective, targeted toward certain enzymes in the mitochondria. 

“A few specific proteins appear to be getting damaged, but with global effects,” Sohal said in a recent seminar at the WRPRC. “If we can identify these defects, we can search for what’s more specifically wrong and plan interventions.” 

Center staff members Joe Kemnitz, Ph.D., Ricki Colman, Ph.D., Jon Ramsey, Ph.D., Terry Gresl and Scott Baum are studying the effects of age and DR at the integrative level. This involves, in part, the use of dual energy X-ray absorptiometry to examine body composition and regional distribution of body fat and muscle mass. Energy expenditure, or metabolic rate, is being measured by indirect respiration calorimetry. The Kemnitz team is also examining glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity, and lipid concentrations and composition to characterize overall health in the middle-aged monkeys. This is being done in collaboration with Will Cefalu, M.D., University of Vermont, and Iris Edwards, Ph.D., Bowman Gray School of Medicine. 

“We are finding that prolonged dietary restriction causes sustained changes in energy expenditure, glucose metabolism, and cardiovascular health, which may all contribute to retarding disease and aging,” Kemnitz says. “This is important because increased body fat, especially abdominal fat, is related to cardiovascular risks such as hypertension and hyperlipidemia, and to glucose regulation problems such as hyperglycemia, insulin resistance and diabetes.” 

The group last year reported the restricted monkeys’ body fat mass to be 33 percent less than the controls’ after eight years on DR. They also observed that nighttime energy expenditure was significantly reduced in the restricted compared with control monkeys after adjustment for lean body mass differences, whereas morning, afternoon, and total energy expenditure were not significantly different. 

“DR results in a prolonged decrease in resting energy expenditure, which could contribute to the possible life-extending action of this treatment,” Ramsey says. 

Gresl is focusing on glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity. DR increases insulin sensitivity and lowers blood glucose, which may prevent or postpone the development of Type II diabetes in rhesus monkeys. 

Kemnitz and Neil Binkley, M.D., oversee animal health and sample procurement for the DR studies. This largely involves analyzing monkey blood and tissue samples through microscopy, X-ray technology and other noninvasive whole body analyses, as well as assays for biochemical analysis. Colman and Binkley are also monitoring bone health in the DR monkeys. So far, they have observed no osteoporosis in these animals. 

Baum, the lead technician on the project since its inception, supervises undergraduate student assistants who feed the monkeys carefully regulated amounts of monkey chow especially formulated for this study. The pellets are rich in essential vitamins and minerals, and contain balanced amounts of fat, carbohydrate and protein. A piece of fruit or vegetable tops off each monkey’s daily intake. 

As both the control and calorie restricted monkeys age, comparing their changing biological responses to traditional biomarkers of aging will be critical to gaining a complete understanding of the effects of DR. Strengthening statistical studies in this area is a new center collaborator, David Allison, Ph.D., of Columbia University in New York. Allison’s expertise is in biostatistics and obesity. He will aid our researchers in assessing the relationship among classic biomarkers of aging, disease status, dietary restriction and survival time. The ultimate goal is to derive and cross-validate a biomarker index, or “lifespan predictor” for aging primates. 

“This expertise is essential for such large, complex longitudinal studies because many of the exact methods we propose are not easily implemented as canned routines in point-and-click software, but require original programming,” says Weindruch. 

A new project proposed for the next five-year funding cycle is entitled, “Quantitative analysis of immunity to viral immunogens.” Headed by David Watkins, Ph.D., chair of our Immunogenetics Group, this project will explore the resistance to diseases in aged and DR animals. Watkins’ team will study killer T-cell responses to viruses in the DR and control monkeys. 

“Since viral infection of the elderly is a major health problem,” Watkins says, “we need to determine how aging can influence the immune response and whether DR can change this.”
 

Related studies 

“It will be of particular interest to learn how DR might influence the timing and course of menopause,” Kemnitz says. 

WRPRC researchers can study nutrition, osteopororis, menopause and a wealth of other parameters as they relate to aging, because our center has the largest colony of rhesus monkeys over age 20. In addition to the “DR” monkeys, we have a colony of about 100 monkeys supported in part by the NIA for a variety of studies associated with aging. During 1997, investigators used animals in this colony in studies related to energy balance, glucose metabolism, mitochondrial DNA, bone mineral density, and vision. (The vision research was covered in the Fall/Winter 1997 issue of Centerline.) 

Campus researchers Cynthia Fowler, Ph.D., and graduate student Pete Torre, have also begun studying hearing in aging monkeys, using both the WRPRC’s colony of aged monkeys and its DR monkeys. 

Last year, Hideo Uno, Ph.D., who retired last August, completed a retrospective survey of late life pathology (Summer 1998 Centerline). 

New projects getting underway include studies of the neuroendocrinology of menopause (Ei Terasawa, Ph.D.) and the biology underlying perimenopausal hot flashes (Bob Freedman, Ph.D., Wayne State University). 

The Aging and Metabolic Diseases Research Group, with its first decade of studying DR in monkeys completed and significant progress attained addressing other aspects of aging, has brought our society a little closer to reaching three of its most desirable goals: One, that we might be able to spend more of our golden years doing the things we have always enjoyed doing. Two, that we may enjoy more time with our parents and other aging relatives. And three, that as a rapidly aging global population, we will not be overburdened by the costs of suffering from preventable diseases. 
 

Recent publications: 

Colman, R.J., and J.W. Kemnitz. CRC publication. 1998. Aging experiments using nonhuman primates. In: Methods in Aging Research. B.P. Yu, ed. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fl. 249-267. 

Ewards, I.J., L.L. Rudel, J.G. Terry, J.W. Kemnitz, R. Weindruch, and W.T. Cefalu. 1998. Caloric restriction in rhesus monkeys reduces low density lipoprotein interaction with arterial proteoglycans. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 1998 Nov;53(6):B443-8. 

Kemnitz, J.W., K.A. Holston, and R.J. Colman. 1998. Nutrition, aging and reproduction in rhesus monkeys. In: Pennington Center Nutrition Series: Volume 8, Nutrition and Reproduction, W. Hansel, G.A. Bray, and D.H. Ryan, eds., pp 180-195. Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge. 

Lee, C.M., M.E. Lopez, R. Weindruch, and J.M. Aiken. 1998. Association of age-related mitochondrial abnormalities with skeletal muscle fiber atrophy. Free Radic Biol Med. 1998 Nov 15;25(8):964-72. 

Ramsey, J.J., E.B. Roecker, R. Weindruch, and J.W. Kemnitz. 1997. Energy expenditure of adult male rhesus monkeys during the first 30 months of dietary restriction. Am. J. Physiol: Endocrinol. Metabol. 0193-1849:E901-E907. 

Weindruch R., and R.S. Sohal. 1997. Caloric intake and aging. New Engl. J. Med. 337(14):986-994. 
 
 
 

Library adds new resources for researchers, students 

by Tonia Scantlen, editorial intern 

The WRPRC Library has earned an international reputation for its unique printed and audiovisual collections and its innovative Internet outreach services. These services include Primate Info Net, AskPrimate, Primate-Jobs, the Audiovisual Archives, the World Directory of Primatologists, the International Directory of Primatology and, most recently, Primate-Science. (See “Quick Guide,” next page.) Primate-Science is the international primate research community’s newest electronic discussion forum. It features Primate Info Net Calendar updates, Research Highlights and other specialized columns (e.g., conservation and veterinary care), announcements of books and videotapes, and book reviews. At 500 subscribers and growing, this forum replaced the more general discussion group, Primate-Talk, in October. Primate-Science is intended for individuals who are conducting scientific research with nonhuman primates. 

“The value of exchanging scientific information cannot be underestimated, and the potential of an Internet service like Primate-Science to foster that exchange is tremendous,” says Larry Jacobsen, head of Library and Informational Services. 

UW-Madison staff and affiliates can also benefit from other research- and professional-oriented Library resources. These include Medline access, scientific journals, periodicals and databases, currency exchange rates, and airline information. 

“The Library maintains a core of critical journals and resources which I can access immediately without running all over campus,” says Ted Golos, Ph.D., chair of our Center’s Reproduction and Development Research Group. “The availability of couriers and automated literature search services allows me to do science rather than spend my time standing in front of the copier.” 

The Library has innovative ways of helping almost anyone. “The Library is proactive. We try to make things happen, rather than waiting for them to happen,” says Jacobsen. 

The rapidly expanding on-line World Directory of Primatologists (WDP), with about 25,000 hits per month, and the International Directory of Primatology (IDP) provide information about people and programs in primate research, education and conservation. The IDP began in print, but interest grew, and the necessity of putting the directory on-line quickly became obvious. Our data management unit developed the software to support this directory. 

Kudos for the WDP have come from all over the world.“We are always using the WDP, which is very important and convenient,” wrote Yukimaru Sugiyama, director of Kyoto University Primate Research Institute in Inuyama, Japan, in November. “Thank you for your tremendous effort.” 

Primate-Science, the Staff Services Menu, the WDP and other Internet resources maintained by the WRPRC Library can all be accessed through its flagship outreach Web site, Primate Info Net (www.primate.wisc.edu/pin). Averaging about 2,000 hits from information seekers each day, PIN is also the gateway to another valuable new Web site, Careers in Primatology (www.primate.wisc.edu/pin/careers.html). Scientists from many of the major disciplines surrounding primatology are represented here. They share their experiences and give solid career advice. The site also includes information about how professional primatological societies can assist students and others interested in careers working with nonhuman primates. 

The Library staff is now expanding one of its most valuable resources for researchers, teachers and students—access to audiovisual materials via the Web. Under the guidance of Ray Hamel, special collections librarian, staff assistants have developed three educational slide sets about primate taxonomy, conservation and behavior. 

“We recently loaded about 200 digital images onto the Internet to encourage loaning and borrowing,” says Hamel. “Eventually there will be a good Internet representation of all our images.” Hamel coordinates access to over 6,000 slides and 800 videos. Each year, the Library lends about 1,000 audiovisual items to investigators and educators around the world. 

The Library is stepping up its efforts to assist K-12 teachers with integrating Web resources into their life sciences classrooms. “Now teachers can have their students follow up on a lecture by sending them directly to the Internet,” says Jacobsen. 

The WRPRC Library gives UW faculty, staff and students access to primatological information and, in turn, draws on UW resources to bring needed information to support center research and outreach education programs. It’s a busy, dynamic and interactive place—whether you’re visiting in person or exploring its myriad of Web links from your office or home. 

When he was hired as head of the WRPRC Library 25 years ago, Jacobsen would have never dreamed that the Library would evolve into the international, Internet-based communications and referral center it is today. With the continued efforts and dedication of Jacobsen, Brown, Hamel, and the student assistants the Library employs each semester, the WRPRC can take pride in watching this resource continue to grow and serve the international primatological research community. 

Reference: L. Jacobsen, R. Hamel and J. Brown. 1998. Internet resources in Primatology. Institute for Laboratory Animal Research Journal, 38(4):171-181. 
 
 

Recent WRPRC Library milestones 

1996: Library curates an international Primates in Art and Illustration exhibit at International Society of Primatologists/American Society of Primatologists Convention in Madison, Wisconsin. Also coordinated audiovisual services for the convention. 

1997: Larry Jacobsen earns American Association of Primatologists Distinguished Service Award (www.primate.wisc.edu/WRPRC/Centerline/fallwin97). 

1997: Friends of the Library established ( HYPERLINK http://www.primate.wisc.edu/pin/fpclweb.html) www.primate.wisc.edu/pin/fpclweb.html). 
 
 

Quick Guide to WRPRC Internet outreach programs 

Primate-Science: www.primate.wisc.edu/pin/ps/ps.html Electronic discussion forum for people conducting research with nonhuman primates at primate centers, laboratories, institutions and zoological gardens. 

Audiovisual Services: www.primate.wisc.edu/pin/av.html Catalog of videotapes and loan information. Videotapes, slides and audiotapes may be borrowed from the WRPRC Library for research or educational purposes. 

AskPrimate: www.primate.wisc.edu/pin/askprim.html Question/answer and referral service available to the public. World Directory of Primatologists (WDP): www.primate.wisc.edu/pin/idp/wdp.html Directory of people with career interests in nonhuman primate research, conservation, education or veterinary medicine. 

International Directory of Primatology (IDP): www.primate.wisc.edu/pin/idp Detailed entries for major primate centers, laboratories, educational programs, foundations, conservation agencies and sanctuaries. Also lists field projects, primate societies, and population management groups. 

Primate-Jobs: www.primate.wisc.edu/pin/jobs Job listing service including positions wanted and available. 

For more information, contact the WRPRC Library at 608-263-3512 (phone), 608-263-4031 (fax), or library@primate.wisc.edu (e-mail). 
 
 

WRPRC part of new Midwest AIDS research center 

David Pauza, Ph.D., David Watkins, Ph.D., and Eva Rakasz, Ph.D., of the Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center (WRPRC) will manage the Nonhuman Primate Models Core Laboratory in support of this effort. Pauza will head the core laboratory and serve on the executive committee for the Great Lakes CFAR. Other participants are the Universities of Chicago, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Their combined mission is to conduct basic, clinical and animal models research on AIDS transmission, pathogenesis, vaccination and therapy. 

The Great Lakes CFAR is one of 12 such centers across the United States that will receive more than $13 million in first-year funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and five other NIH institutes. The NIAID conducts and supports research to prevent, diagnose and treat illnesses such as HIV disease and other sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, malaria, asthma and allergies. 

CFARs provide a pool of shared resources, such as technical expertise, equipment and training, to local AIDS researchers. The centers also advance AIDS research by facilitating interdisciplinary and international collaborations, technology transfer through academic-industry collaborations, research dissemination activities, and community outreach. “HIV research requires expertise in multiple scientific fields and increasingly sophisticated procedures, so the integrated center approach is an excellent way to achieve this goal,” says NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. 

“The Nonhuman Primate Models Core Lab will provide tissue and blood specimens from ongoing or archived studies of SIV or SHIV infection in rhesus macaques,” says Pauza. “We will also develop new experimental protocols to test concepts in disease prevention.” These would include innovative approaches to gene therapy, and developmental and preclinical studies on vaccines, he adds. 

In addition to supporting the Core Lab, the new funding will extend our Immunogenetics Research Group’s capacity to collect data on Major Histocompatibility Complex genotype of animals in treatment or prevention studies. 

Since 1988, the national CFAR program has sponsored many advances in AIDS research, including identification of new co-receptors for HIV, the role of cytotoxic T-lymphocytes in early infection and in controlling virus replication, and the use of antiretroviral drugs as probes to understand the dynamics of HIV replication. The program also has developed research service laboratories with capabilities such as flow cytometry and DNA sequencing, and has made those resources available to AIDS researchers within a community. 

The centers are committed to addressing the particular concerns of minority communities. They explore ways to increase the number of minority scientists involved in AIDS research. They also handle problems related to enrollment and retention of women and minorities in AIDS clinical trials. 
 
 

Gleanings 

Grants and awards
A Centers for AIDS research grant involves the WRPRC (See story this issue). 

Neil Binkley, M.D., received a three-year K08 NIA grant on Sept. 1 to examine the effects of Vitamin K on bone loss in rhesus monkeys and rats. 

Kirk Boehm, research program manager, has been elected president of the Laboratory Animal Management Association (LAMA). LAMA represents approximately 1,000 management members from throughout the United States working in the laboratory animal science field. 

Molly Carnes, M.D., professor of medicine and WRPRC affiliate, will direct the UW-Madison Medical School’s new National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health. Other sites selected in October by the U.S. Public Health Service Office of Women’s Health to establish such centers were Harvard, University of Washington, University of Illinois-Chicago, Tulane-Xavier Medical College, and University of Puerto Rico. The centers will bring together health-care providers, researchers and teachers to focus on women’s health. 

Ned Kalin, M.D., has been awarded the Dana Foundation Grant to study the relationship between emotion and induced risk for cardiovascular disease. 

Joan Scheffler, B.S., recently elected secretary of the board of directors for the Wisconsin Society for Clinical Laboratory Scientists, served as a delegate to the society’s national convention in Chicago in August. 

Steven Shelton has been named a UW-Madison distinguished researcher. His studies focus on the neurobiology of emotions, especially the role the amygdala plays in fear-related behavior. Shelton has conducted research at the UW for 31 years. (More at www.news.wisc.edu/thisweek/Awards/Y98/nov/shelton.html.) 

Karen Strier, Ph.D., received a Vilas Associate Award from the UW Graduate School, and a grant from the National Geographic Society to launch a project on the comparative life histories and reproductive ecology of Atlantic forest primates. Strier has also been elected to a three-year term as a council delegate for anthropology to the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 

David Watkins, Ph.D., is collaborating with Epimmune Inc., through a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) phase II grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH) to fund a two-year project, “Peptide based vaccine for primate model of AIDS.” 

Richard Weindruch, Ph.D., has earned The Gerontological Society of America’s 1998 Kleemeier Award for outstanding research in aging (www.news.wisc.edu/thisweek/Awards/Y98/sep/rwein.html). 

Michael Wussow, associate research specialist working with James Thomson, Ph.D., was awarded first prize and $1,000 in Adaptec’s “Bare It All” contest. Wussow’s project used video microscopy, a video camera and a computer to capture cell images. He used an Adaptec product to remove out-of-focus haze and correct the images. 

New staff
Jessica Antosiewicz, associate research specialist, Oct. 12. Sandra Gorney, entry level animal caretaker, Sept. 28. Amanda Goudy, associate research specialist, Nov. 1. Will Henry, associate research specialist, Sept. 15. Rachel Kravitz, Ph.D., post-doctoral research associate, Aug. 24. Stacey Maves, entry level animal caretaker, Aug. 27. Sara Nolan, entry level animal caretaker, Sept. 28. Amy Usborne, D.V.M., associate research animal veterinarian, Oct. 1. Michele Vance, research specialist, Nov. 1. Debra Werner-Kelln, veterinary technician, Nov. 2. 

Promotions
Julie Adriansjach, from lab animal technician to associate research specialist, Nov. 22. 

Doug Cowley, from lab animal senior caretaker to lab animal care supervisor, Nov. 8. 

David Watkins, Ph.D., from associate professor to professor in the UW Medical School Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, July 1998. 

Retirement
Earl Duhr, senior animal caretaker, retired July 31 after nearly 35 years of service at the WRPRC. Earl was hired on Jan. 13, 1964, when the center was first constructed. He worked under four directors (Harlow, Goy, Hearn and Kemnitz), with seven species of monkeys, and with more than six species of rodents. 
 
 

Construction benefits from mild autumn 

The addition, pictured above, right, will include a new clinical pathology lab, an expanded surgery suite and more and improved animal housing. 

Kirk Boehm, research program manager, has been integral in reviewing the design plans for the addition. Joe Kemnitz, Ph.D., interim director, and Sue Carlson, M.B.A., administrative program specialist, have also helped extensively with the planning. 

Many other WRPRC personnel have been planning the designs for their new research and research support areas. They include Christine O’Rourke, D.V.M., Joan Scheffler, M.T., James Thomson, Ph.D., V.M.D., David Pauza, Ph.D., Michele Zimbric and Jack Mitchen, M.S. 
 
 

New WRPRC Research Web Sites 

News updates: University of Wisconsin-Madison press releases about the Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center. 

Current research highlights: Descriptions of WRPRC research excerpted from “Primate-Science Research Highlights,” part of a new Internet discussion forum for individuals conducting research with nonhuman primates. Also includes a link to more detailed descriptions of center research. 

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