Research in experimental biology and biomedical sciences has been greatly facilitated by the use of animal models. Questions related to cellular organization or to the biophysical properties of single neurons and microcircuits of small neuronal populations can be studied in any species, and such studies significantly increased our knowledge of microprocesses. But to understand our own brain systems and eventually to gain insights into human behavior and its disorders there is no substitute for research in nonhuman primates with the same basic connectivity patterns and cortical organization as humans. More so for targeted studies of disorders related to complex executive functions, empathy, social behaviors and consciousness, requiring sophisticated behavioral paradigms and eventually modelling of genetic pathological profiles. The latter has been greatly facilitated by the development and application of efficient gene-editing technologies, such as the CRISPR/Cas9 methods.  In my talk I will describe our efforts to develop gene-edited macaque and marmoset monkey models for studying higher cognitive functions.  Specifically, I shall summarize our recent efforts in cloning macaque monkeys using somatic cell nuclear transfer and providing the first evidence that this approach could be used in generating macaque monkey clones carrying identical gene-editing.  These gene-edited macaque monkeys with uniform genetic background will be very useful for studying primate neurobiology and for developing therapeutics for human diseases.  Such use of non-human primates, like other frontier research in science and technology, inevitably raises ethical issues that must be satisfactorily dealt with by the research community and the society at large.  I will therefor also address the justification and the relevant ethical issues associated with gene editing and the use of non-human primates in biomedical research.