New director takes over at Primate Center

It is not likely, by a long shot, to be his biggest challenge, but reorienting his collegiate athletic allegiances and keeping peace in the family will be one pressing priority for neurophysiologist Jon Levine, the Northwestern University researcher who takes the reins of the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center (WNPRC) this month. For Levine, who has been a professor of neurobiology and physiology at Northwestern since 1984, adjusting to Wisconsin will require more than donning cardinal and white on football Saturdays. He assumes leadership of a center that is one of the most intellectually stimulating and scientifically important on campus and, at the same time, one of the most controversial due to its mission of research involving nonhuman primates. And while Levine has conducted studies with primate models, including collaborations with UW-Madison researchers, he has performed the bulk of his research using rodent models. "I see it as a great advantage to have experience in both research worlds," explains Levine, who gained his first experiences with monkeys as a postdoctoral fellow at the Oregon National Primate Research Center in 1982. "The great majority of current research and proportionally 'hot' areas of progress are rodent based. That I can walk easily in both worlds gives me a broader perspective and broader knowledge base from which to operate." Levine assumed his new post Sept.