About Us

Memorial garden statue, rhesus mother and infant

The Tulane National Primate Research Center improves human and animal health through basic and applied biomedical research. As one of the seven National Primate Research Centers primarily funded by the National Institutes of Health, the TNPRC is committed to discovering causes, preventions, treatments, and cures that allow people around the world to live longer, healthier lives. 
 

Originally opened in 1964 as the Delta Regional Primate Center, the Tulane National Primate Research Center is situated on 500 acres of land in Covington, Louisiana, approximately forty miles north of New Orleans. Over the past 60 years, the primate center Research has grown to meet the research needs for our nation's most pressing human health problems, and as a result has expanded its facilities, employees, and research programs.

Primary research interests include developing vaccines, treatments, and diagnostic tools for infectious diseases such as AIDS, COVID-19, Lyme disease, tuberculosis, and emerging infectious diseases. 

Research at the Tulane National Primate Research Center focuses on understanding infectious and chronic diseases that require the use of the nonhuman primate model.  The TNPRC has both biosafety level 2 and biosafety level 3 laboratories facilities to accommodate various research needs and is the only National Primate Research Center with a Regional Biosafety Laboratory. Learn more about the Regional Biosafety Laboratory at the TNPRC. 

The Tulane National Primate Research Center has become a premier infectious disease research facility and one of the largest employers in St. Tammany Parish with over three hundred employees and an annual statewide economic impact estimated at $107.1 million a year. 

 

 

Mission

The Tulane National Primate Research Center (TNPRC) has a national mission to improve human and animal health through basic and applied biomedical research.

To accomplish this mission, the TNPRC:

  • Conducts basic and applied biomedical research on human health problems using nonhuman primate models.
  • Investigates nonhuman primate biology and diseases with particular regard to the study of human health problems.
  • Promotes animal welfare through the use of clinical and basic science research to characterize and improve the health of nonhuman primates.
  • Serves as a regional and national resource and center of excellence for biomedical research using nonhuman primates.
  • Provides training for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, veterinarians, undergraduates, veterinary students and visiting scientists.
  • Educates the general public about the critical link between basic research with animal models and improvements in human health.