Paul Johnson's lab at the New England Regional Primate Research Center is one of the best equipped in the world to study the immunology of SIV, the simian AIDS virus. Johnson also enjoys generous funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). So why does he have to wait 2 to 6 months to start an experiment? The answer is simple: The demand for rhesus macaques, the animal of choice for Johnson and a growing number of AIDS researchers, far outstrips the supply. But the reasons for that shortage are complex, encompassing everything from international trade to internal NIH politics. And AIDS researchers are worried that, if the shortage persists, it could hinder progress in the field. "It's a huge problem," says Norman Letvin, a leading AIDS vaccine researcher based at Harvard's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. "And it's going to get much worse."
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