The main objective of the Primate Core is to provide NCCFAR investigators the ability to conduct pilot primate studies designed to gather preliminary data for a NIH grant submission and increase collaboration with non-primate researchers involved in AIDS research. Pilot projects will be solicited by the Developmental Core, reviewed by the Scientific Review Committee and recommended for funding. The cost for primate use in approved pilot projects is covered by the budget of the Primate Core.

In addition, the resources of the Primate Core are used to support supplemental studies that are related to NIH-funded active grants to investigators at University of California, Davis, Viral and Rickettsial Disease Laboratory/California Department of Health Services at Berkeley and the University of California, Berkeley.

The Primate Core supports studies that are designed to perform proof of the concept experiments and to test hypotheses based on clinical observations in HIV-infected patients, or to conduct initial testing of specific antiviral intervention strategies. Studies of lentiviral pathogenesis, antiviral therapy and vaccine development are especially appropriate for testing in the Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV) and Simian-Human Immunodeficiency Virus (SHIV)- infected rhesus macaque models available through the Primate Core.

An Immunology Core lab at the California National Primate Research Center is available to assist in the analysis of primate samples.

The Primate Core provides a vehicle to conduct pre-clinical studies in monkeys that are coordinated with planned, or ongoing, studies conducted by basic and clinical NCCFAR investigators. Thus, the NCCFAR, and the Primate Core, provides investigators with the translational research opportunities that have been missing at the participating institutions of NCCFAR.