Frequently asked questions about partnerships

BPRC is outwardly oriented and often receives requests for collaboration from other organisations. We have collaborative partnerships with many other organisations, both within and outside our own industry, ranging from universities and hospitals to zoos and other primate research centres. We also receive funds from scientific foundations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, who believe that our research may make a significant contribution to the objectives they seek to achieve.

How do all these partnerships benefit BPRC?

Everything we do revolves around science, public health and animal welfare. Every grant we receive from the government or a scientific foundation contributes to the development of new medications, the improvement of public health, increased knowledge of monkeys and improved primate welfare, all over the world!

We share our knowledge with other parties who conduct research on human and animal health.

Is your research of any use to animals living outside BPRC?

It certainly is. Animals kept in zoos and even animals living in the wild benefit from what we do.

Our work does not just focus on improving people's health. We also focus on animal welfare. We have collaborative partnerships with zoos. In addition, BPRC contributes to the health of monkeys living in the wild by treating them against infectious diseases and genotyping individual animals, in order to prevent inbreeding among animals living in the wild and eradicate the diseases associated with this, among other things. BPRC researchers are working hard to develop methods which will help us preserve monkey species in an animal-friendly manner.

How do you contribute to other types of research?

We do not keep the cells and tissues obtained in our studies (by means of animal testing or otherwise) to ourselves. We make material available to others through our biobank, which is Europe's largest biobank for non-human primate cells and tissues.

It is a good example of international scientific research carried out in accordance with the highest ethical standards. Through our biobank we store and distribute a wide range of biological materials, including tissues, products derived from serum, blood, DNA, RNA and B cells. These cells and tissues are highly valuable to other research institutes, companies and organisations engaged in biomedical research.

In this way, BPRC makes rare and valuable primate specimens available to both BPRC employees and external scientists. Our biobank may serve as an alternative source of information that will help people investigate scientific hypotheses and pathomechanisms, and test new bioactive substances and biological products. The idea is to minimise the level of discomfort experienced by our animals and to reduce our research expenditures.

Do you collaborate with other institutes and other experts working in the field?

BPRC has cross-border collaborative partnerships with several universities, research institutes and scientists. We are represented in both Dutch and international governing bodies active in the field of animal testing.

Moreover, our animal care workers, vets and ethologists actively take part in national and international conferences, where they exchange experiences with their colleagues elsewhere. We are also actively involved in organisations such as the Biotechnical Society (Biotechnische Vereniging), the Dutch Society for Animal Testing (Nederlandse Vereniging voor Proefdierkunde) and the European Association of Veterinary Anatomists.

What are the results of all these collaborative partnerships?

A contribution to the three Rs (reduction, refinement and replacement of experiments involving animal testing), i.e., a contribution to animal welfare. We contribute to improved animal welfare by focusing on proper nutrition, accommodations and care.

By exchanging experiences with our colleagues in the field, we can make sure we are all on the same page when it comes to the methods and protocols used.

What is your collaboration with the animals themselves like?

BPRC has engaged in animal training, designed to get to the animals to cooperate with scientists of their own accord, for quite a few years now. The purpose of this training is to ensure that the experiments can be carried out in a smooth and anxiety-free manner, where possible.

This is beneficial both to animal welfare and to the studies we carry out. To this end, BPRC's animal trainers always use innovative methods to ensure that the studies are conducted in the best possible manner. Furthermore, our animal trainers are involved in international programmes designed to further develop these methods. They share their knowhow with other research institutes, by giving lectures or teaching workshops, among other things.

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Frequently asked questions about partnerships

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