Special Report 2026

What if nonhuman primate research goes away?

As the U.S. government takes steps to stop using nonhuman primates in research, The Transmitter investigates what that shift could mean for neuroscience.
Illustrated collage of a monkey profile, a gloved hand holding a vaccine syringe touching an outline of the United States with two primates sitting near it, a strand of DNA, and flags of the United States and China in the background.
 

U.S. national primate research centers face an uncertain future

The facilities were meant to last 100 years. Four decades shy of that mark, amid flatlined funds and mounting political pressure, their directors are trying to find a path forward.
Illustration of primate hands interacting with objects of cognitive tests.
 

The neuroscience questions that need nonhuman primates

The Transmitter asked 17 neuroscientists what questions might remain unanswered if support for nonhuman primate research continues to decline.
Research image of an organoid with a necrotic core.
 

Human brain organoids come of age—but still have room to grow

The U.S. government has touted organoids as an alternative to animals for studying the brain. The model has improved since its debut in 2013, but scientists are still working to overcome key limitations: immaturity, consistency and the lack of vascularization.
Illustration of four faces of a rhesus macaque transitioning from opaque to transparent.
 

Autism research involving monkeys contends with uphill battle

Macaques and marmosets recapitulate the condition’s core traits better than mice can, but funding uncertainty and challenges at primate centers in the United States could make this work difficult to continue.

”The primate centers in particular, and the primate research community in general, feels endangered at this point, and feels like their work is under a kind of scrutiny that we have not experienced in the past. Nobody knows how it’s going to play out.

— J. Anthony Movshon, professor of neural science and psychology at New York University

Past coverage of research

How new technologies can bring primatologists and systems neuroscientists together

Cooperating marmosets extend decision-making model of the brain

Cortical area remixes macaques’ knowledge blocks to solve new problems

Switching neural code may solve ongoing face-recognition debate

Monkeys build mental maps to navigate new tasks

Monkey studies throw wrench into decade-old idea about movement’s effect on visual cortex

Past coverage of policy and funding

Dutch primate center awaits October animal research debate

Oregon primate research center to downsize monkey colony, pivot to non-animal models

Oregon primate center scientists fight proposed sanctuary transition

Two primate centers drop ‘primate’ from their name

Without monkeys, neuroscience has no future

Nonhuman primate research to lose federal funding at major European facility