Anne Yoder has high hopes for the futures of prosimian primates, large and small, housed at the Duke University Primate Center.
Yoder, who is set to take on the role as DUPC director January 1, 2006, has been charged with enhancing the center's educational and research value to the University while maintaining its work on conservation efforts.
"Everyone's rooting for the primate center," she said. "I'm confident we're going to take it to the top."
University administrators pledged $8 million earlier this year to help the center increase its potential for valuable research and teaching.
Yoder, who earned her Ph.D. in anatomy from the Duke University Medical Center in 1992 and joined the the Duke faculty this fall, said she will use these funds to upgrade DUPC facilities.
"The top priority will definitely be improving the winterization process," Yoder said. "We're building enclosed, temperature-controlled natural habitats that allow for more studies in free-ranging areas."
Expanding natural habitats has been a long-standing goal at DUPC since various primates suffered illnesses or death in 1996 because of cold temperatures.
"One issue in the 1990s was that in the aftermath of the incidents, a lot of animals that had been kept outdoors were brought inside," Vice Provost for Research James Siedow said. "When this takes place, primate behavior totally changes. It's just not appealing [to researchers]."
Siedow and other Duke officials hope to reinvigorate the center's popularity-which waned in the late-1990s-among scientists. But it remains uncertain if the 1996 incident is the single factor for that decline.
"Since the primate center is both a Duke facility and nationally funded, we'd hope it would be a draw for other people, as in the 1980s-in the BAA department, the medical center and beyond," Siedow said.
Enhancing laboratory space is one of Yoder's top priorities for fostering more diverse research approaches at the center. She said she plans for construction of on-site biological labs in upcoming years.
"I hope changes will attract students, faculty and researchers in general... to focus on all three concentrations [education, research and conservation] while not compromising recent or existing advances," Yoder said.
Potential research collaborations with the DUPC include efforts to study lesser mouse lemurs, whose unique genetics and evolutionary history may hold the key to aging and memory studies. Siedow said the extra laboratory space will allow for greater study of the animals.
Scientists also plan to collaborate more with scientists from Madagascar in research and conservation efforts.
In line with University goals, Yoder also plans to construct space at the center for classes and seminars. Currently, many courses taught at DUPC only utilize the center for laboratory sections, while lectures are taught at Duke's main campus.
"I want to implement state-of-the-art classroom space, including wireless internet and audiovisual capabilities, to accommodate teaching and discussion," Yoder said. "I eventually hope for something that will facilitate many people-undergraduate and graduate courses, symposium seminars."
Yoder and Siedow both stressed that, despite aims to improve its research and education components, the center's mission to foster education, research and conservation are largely integrated and will play on one another as improvements progress.
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