Harvard Medical School (HMS) announced today that it intended to wind down operations of the New England Primate Research Center (NEPRC), in Southborough, Massachusetts. The school cited diminished sponsored-research funding. The announcement also noted that the decision

follows a two-year period during which the Center leadership successfully addressed operating issues with input from the NIH [National Institutes of Health] and other governing agencies. The process resulted in new procedures that have significantly strengthened the Center’s day-to-day activities and that can serve as a model for other institutions throughout the country. Many of those changes carried additional costs, and HMS will continue to make investments in the Center to ensure ongoing compliance with all federal regulations.

That may be read as a reference to highly publicized lapses in care at the NEPRC, including direct violation of federal animal-welfare regulations, warnings from federal overseers, and ensuing urgent changes in operations. (See also Harvard Magazine's report on recommended changes at the center, following an independent review of its operations.) The reference to the funding environment echoes HMS's most recent annual report, indicating a substantial operating deficit in fiscal year 2012 as research funding diminished, before the recent federal budget "sequester" took effect, reducing research grants for the balance of this year.

Updated April 23, 2:45 p.m. Carolyn Y. Johnson, the Boston Globe staff member who has led coverage of the story, reports that researchers were very surprised by HMS's decision; that some 20 faculty members, 32 postdoctoral researchers and graduate students, and 150 staff members will be affected; and that provision will need to be made to provide for nearly 2,000 animals at the facility, which was supported by a five-year base federal grant and received $27 million in federal funding in the most recent year. She cites HMS estimates that the facility would require $25 million of Harvard investment in coming years, and notes that the much smaller animal facility in the Longwood Medical Area, with 42 primates, would continue to operate.

The complete text of the HMS statement follows.