Background and Objectives

Marmosets and tamarins are species of monkey that are studied in the laboratory as well as their wild habitat, which is rain forest and coastal forest in South America. Laboratory/captive research with these species has been conducted in European  states for some 40 years now, including academic, governmental, industrial and wildlife organisations. The aim of this research has been to increase our understanding of the biology of these primates (e.g. their behaviour and central nervous system, genetics, growth and development, immunology, nutrition, reproduction) and to study them in biomedical research, that is, in terms of  increasing our understanding of the causes and treatment of human disease.  Because, as fellow primates, marmosets and tamarins are relatively closely related to humans in evolutionary terms, then in the case of many physiological  systems and associated functions, they provide important models for the study of human disease and development of new therapies. The quality of the data that can be obtained with laboratory primates is limited by the health status of the  animals and the sophistication of the scientific methods used. Methods that are stressful for the animal - and as complex species, primates are relatively susceptible to stress compared to rodents, the other major laboratory species  can compromise the quality of the data obtained. Therefore it is important that  a forum is available where the expertise gained by biological and biomedical  scientists can be discussed, exchanged and shared, for a common benefit in terms  of the highest-quality husbandry, animal health, biological knowledge and biomedical research.

The EUROPEAN MARMOSET RESEARCH GROUP (EMRG) is a nonprofit organisation that was established  in 1994 to facilitate inter-disciplinary communication between institutions - academic and industrial - conducting biological and/or biomedical research with primates. A major goal of the EMRG is to optimise the use of marmosets and tamarins as subjects in a wide range of life science disciplines. The EMRG has  published a Handbook of Marmosets and Tamarins in Biological and Biomedical  Research (1997), produces a biannual newsletter, and organises workshops. In  view of the wide use of marmosets and tamarins in both fundamental and applied  research, the specific objectives of the EMRG are:
1) to identify the needs,  capabilities, and susceptibilities of marmosets and tamarins.
2) to optimise the laboratory maintenance of, and-the experimental procedures performed on  marmosets and tamarins, relative to their needs; capabilities and  susceptibilities.
3) to act as a forum for multidisciplinary information exchange via the organisation of workshops and publications, and affiliation to and interaction with other organisations and
4) to identify the suitability in  fundamental and applied research of marmosets and tamarins compared with other  primate and non-primate species.

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