PrimeMeet Europe – European primate research centers are increasing their collaboration

On May 26 and 27, 2026, representatives from European primate research centers and primate researchers from outside Europe gathered in Haarlem, the Netherlands, to exchange knowledge and network. The conclusion of the conference: The health challenges facing Europe are too great to be tackled by individual institutions or countries alone—concrete future collaborations were already agreed upon during the conference.

The participants agreed that cooperation should be strengthened in the future, primarily through a more intensive exchange of knowledge. Many locations already possess a wealth of technical expertise and years of experience. However, these resources have not yet been sufficiently networked at the European level. Closer collaboration will enable better use of synergies and a more effective approach to common challenges in the future.

According to Merel Langelaar, director at the host institution, the Biomedical Primate Research Center (BPRC), PrimeMeet was created precisely for this purpose—to strengthen pan-European connections and develop new joint solutions to current challenges.

In his keynote address, Stefan Treue, director at the DPZ, emphasized that primate centers should not be viewed merely as places of research. Rather, they are distinguished by their high-performance infrastructures, which are available to the national and international research community. In addition to the housing and breeding of non-human primates for research, this includes extensive biological and data banks, capabilities for high-resolution imaging, as well as expertise and innovations in so-called “New Approach Methodologies” (NAMs).

The emerging NAMs methods, which do not require the use of animals in research, encompass a wide range of approaches, from organoids to stem cell and computer models, and even so-called organ-on-a-chip technologies. According to keynote speaker Christine Mummery, professor of developmental biology at Leiden University Medical Center in Belgium, the future of research is shaped by combined approaches in which NAMs are also gaining increasing importance. 

While NAMs can advance biomedical research, they cannot yet completely replace animal testing. Animal models remain essential, particularly for safety testing of new drugs and vaccines, as both Roger Le Grand, Director of Infection Modeling and Innovative Therapies at the French research organization CEA, and Lars Mecklenburg, Director of Safety Assessment at Labcorp, emphasized in their talks. 

The issue of transparency remains central. Today, research must not only deliver results but also clearly demonstrate how and why it is conducted. In addition to the opening address by Jan Langermans, Deputy Director at the BPRC, the Communications Working Group also addressed this topic in depth on the second day of the conference.

The keynote speeches have already demonstrated that the work at European primate centers is diverse, covering a very broad spectrum of topics ranging from infectious disease research and pandemic preparedness to immunology, neurobiology, and neuroscience. The working group discussions on the second day of the conference addressed this diversity and provided a forum for focused discussions within the broad range of topics. 

In the Infectious Diseases and Translational Models working group, the primary focus was on preparing for future viral outbreaks. This led to an initial concrete outcome even during the conference: a collaborative paper on mapping European capacities in the field of non-human primates for Ebola research.

In the Neuroscience Working Group, the main topics of discussion were rising research costs and the challenge of securing long-term funding for specialized infrastructure. The focus was placed on strengthening collaboration and sharing existing infrastructure as a solution. Similar topics also arose in the Infrastructure Working Group, which likewise agreed on increased shared use of existing biobanks and databases. In the NAMs Working Group, too, it was agreed to share historical data, reference materials, and existing expertise more effectively and quickly—on the one hand, to avoid losing knowledge that has already been generated, and on the other, to prevent duplication of work and effort. 

Strengthening inter-European cooperation was also discussed in the Communication Working Group, as science communication often takes place at the national or local level, but debates about research shape the entire European space across national borders. Another focus was on patient organizations that can communicate effectively and personally why biomedical research is necessary.