More Collaborative Than a Barrel of Monkeys
January 13th, 2020
Tucked behind an unassuming door in Allwine Hall, a small team of researchers and about 20 student volunteers care for, watch and learn from a colony of more than 80 marmoset monkeys.
Since 1983, the Callitrichid Research Center (CRC) has made significant contributions to the fields of behavioral neuroendocrinology — how hormones influence social behavior — and primate conservation.
Initially, work was done with Golden Lion Tamarin monkeys (sidebar) under the direction of CRC founder Professor Jeff French. French is nearing retirement, but he’s leaving the lab and the marmosets in good hands with a team building on his work while investigating new questions about how what we eat impacts how we feel and act.
“For example, if you’re stressed, do you have a different microbiome structure than if you’re not stressed?” asks Assistant Professor Jonathan Clayton.
Clayton joined UNO in 2018 in a role shared between UNO’s biology department and the Nebraska Food for Health Center in Lincoln. Through partnerships with University of Nebraska-Lincoln and University of Nebraska Medical Center faculty, he’s investigating microbiomes — the bacteria, viruses, fungi and more that live in our guts.
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Story by Sam Petto | UNO Communications