Animal Resources
In addition to a number of core laboratory resources, the Michale E. Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and Research (KCCMR) maintains a number of animal resources supported as national resources for biomedical and behavioral research. To request information or access to center resources, please visit the Contact Information page.
You can also download our biologics request form (pdf). Please fill in the form and fax it back to the number on the form.
Laboratory Reference Value Registry
The KCCMR provides a registry of normal reference values and biologic reagents for both owl monkeys and squirrel monkeys. Laboratories both within and outside the resource are routinely evaluating reagents such as antibodies in experiments, but this information has only been available piecemeal in published reports. The Office of AIDS Research and the NCRR have said there is a need to develop and test new and existing reagents for use in alternative nonhuman primate species. This registry brings together information from a number of different sources to provide a single point of reference.
Chimpanzee Biomedical Research Resource (CBRR)
The Chimpanzee Biomedical Research Resource (CBRR) is maintained at the Michale E. Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and Research (KCCMR) of The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Bastrop, TX. The KCCMR maintains a colony of 160 chimpanzees. Over the past 30 years, the CBRR has developed the highly specialized housing facilities, laboratories, management techniques and staff essential for conducting research with chimpanzees. Resource-related research will focus on characterization of the immune system of the chimpanzee, expansion of our understanding of chimpanzee cardiomyopathy as a potential human disease model and comparisons of the physiologic and immunologic consequences of research manipulations on chimpanzees trained to voluntarily cooperate with research procedures versus untrained chimpanzees that must be sedated. By expanding the resources available, conducting resource-related research and containing cost, the CBRR will continue to provide a critically important, highly specialized, research resource to address important human health issues.
Rhesus Monkey Breeding and Research Resource (RMBRR)
For this specific pathogen-free (SPF) Rhesus Monkey Breeding and Research Resource (RMBRR), primary responsibilities involve the medical, surgical, reproductive and social management of more than 700 monkeys. For over 10 years, the colony has been recognized as the finest SPF rhesus colony of its kind, producing animals that are free of cercopithecine herpesvirus I (herpes B virus), simian immunodeficiency virus, simian retrovirus and simian T lymphotrophic virus. During this time, the colony has been part of the NIH-funded National SPF Rhesus Breeding and Research Program, which is dedicated to supporting scientists at M. D. Anderson and throughout the world using this animal model.
Owl Monkey Breeding and Research Resource (OMBRR)
The Owl Monkey Breeding and Research Resource (OMBRR) is a National Institutes of Health sponsored laboratory to study and provide information about reproductive biology and behavior in the only noctural simian primate. The resource currently maintains a colony of 300 owl monkeys (Aotus). It is the goal of the OMBRR to provide a national resource for monkeys, their tissues and biological fluids, as well as to carry out research leading to a better understanding of owl monkey biology and research uses. This resource has evolved over the years into the only breeding resource of squirrel and owl monkeys in the United States available to NIH grantees and has led to the development of a research and management group with expertise on reproductive, diseases and basic biology of this neotropical monkey.
Squirrel Monkey Breeding and Research Resource (SMBRR)
The Squirrel Monkey Breeding and Research Resource (SMBRR) is a National Institutes of Health sponsored laboratory to study and provide information about reproductive biology and behavior in the genus Saimiri. The resource currently maintains a colony of 400 squirrel monkeys (Saimiri). It is the goal of the SMBRR to provide a national resource for monkeys, their tissues and biological fluids, as well as to carry out research leading to a better understanding of squirrel monkey biology and research uses. This resource has evolved over the years into the only breeding resource of squirrel in the United States available to NIH grantees and has led to the development of a research and management group with expertise on reproduction, diseases and basic biology of this neotropical monkey.
Large Animal Biomedical Research
On the south end of the campus are the Large Animal and Land Management facilities. This complex has a central office and clinical/surgical facility, two barns and a number of out-buildings designed for livestock. There are approximately 200 acres available as pasture, on which sheep, goats, horses, cattle and geese are maintained.