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Medical therapies based on animal research

People, and rightfully so, expect doctors and scientists to treat and cure deadly or severely debilitating diseases. Because of animal research, it was possible to develop a large number of important therapies for severe diseases. Here are some examples that are primarily based on research on non-human primates and in particular, the biomedical work in infection research and neurosciences at the German Primate Center.

Examples from infection research

Infection researchers deal with all kinds of human infectious diseases. This can be virus infections such as HIV or flu, bacterial diseases such as syphilis or diphtheria and also diseases caused by parasites such as tapeworms. In this area of research, the reactions of the active immune system are often part of the research, researchers are often unable to do without animal models and in particular that of non-human primates for their research. Many medicines, vaccines and other life-saving therapies for humans have emerged from such projects. Here are a few examples:

HIV/AIDS

Polio

Neurological therapies

A number of human diseases are based on pathological changes in the brain and additionally injuries of the brain that require treatment due to accidents. In many of these diseases, methods are used that have been developed either in experiments with non-human primates or that are based on techniques that have been discovered and developed in neuroscientific research with non-human primates. One example is neuroprosthetic implants in the brain that are intended to bypass capped or non-functioning nerve connections from the brain to the arm or leg. You can read more on this topic in our Info Center where you will find more examples of neuro-scientific therapies.

Deep brain stimulation

Cochlear implant

Examples from other research areas

Here you will find further examples of therapies from different clinical application areas, such as dialysis, rhesus factor, etc.

Dialysis

Rhesus factor

Xenotransplantation

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Video: Medical successes thanks to primate research

Weiterführende Informationen

Medical progress through primate research