Texas Biomedical Research Institute Plans Nonhuman Primate Animal Facility

Texas Biomedical Research Institute is planning to construct the $10 million Nonhuman Primate Animal Facility in San Antonio. The 45,000-sf building will provide the Southwest National Primate Research Center with additional laboratories and animal housing environments, enabling TBRI to double its population of rhesus macaques. The United States currently faces a shortage of nonhuman primates for biomedical research, with the COVID-19 pandemic highlighting the need for animal models to test the safety and efficacy of new therapies, vaccines, and diagnostics. The Nonhuman Primate Animal Facility will act as a testing hub for TBRI scientists and other institutions engaged in critical lifesaving research. A construction timeline has not yet been determined.