In Brief

2,000-Monkey Research Center to Be Shuttered

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The Harvard Medical School has announced it is closing its primate research center, stating financial reasons due to funding uncertainty as behind their decision, which would send about 2,000 monkeys to other U.S. facilities.

Since about 2010, four monkeys at the New England Primate Research Center in Southborough, Mass., have died, and the Department of Agriculture has cited the center for failing to comply with the Animal Welfare Act, according to the New York Times.

The center is credited with various AIDS achievements, including finding the first clear evidence that AIDS is caused by a virus and demonstrating a vaccine is possible.

For more, here's the statement from Harvard Medical School.

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Jeanna Bryner
Managing editor, Scientific American

Jeanna Bryner is managing editor of Scientific American. Previously she was editor in chief of Live Science and, prior to that, an editor at Scholastic's Science World magazine. Bryner has an English degree from Salisbury University, a master's degree in biogeochemistry and environmental sciences from the University of Maryland and a graduate science journalism degree from New York University. She has worked as a biologist in Florida, where she monitored wetlands and did field surveys for endangered species, including the gorgeous Florida Scrub Jay. She also received an ocean sciences journalism fellowship from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. She is a firm believer that science is for everyone and that just about everything can be viewed through the lens of science.