Scientific research is all about discovering new things and then sharing those ideas with others! The field of companion animal genetic health research is small but incredibly supportive, and last week we held our own “Companion Animal Genetic Health (CAGH)” conference in Cambridge, where we welcomed scientists from the UK, mainland Europe and even the USA.
The International Conference on Canine and Feline Genetics and Genomics (ICCFGG) is an international conference that is held every other year, and alternates between Europe and the United States ( Finland in 2024; USA in 2026). The CGC team attend these conferences; to present our latest research, catch up with collaborators and learn new science. But a few years ago Cathryn Mellersh and Jeff Schoenebeck had the idea of running a smaller conference in the interim years, here in the UK. The first two meetings, held in Edinburgh, were incredibly well received by the community and in 2025 it was the turn of the University of Cambridge to host the meeting.
Around 40 scientists from the UK, mainland Europe and the USA joined us to present their current research in dog, cat and horse genetics over the course of a day and a half. Alongside some amazing talks there were some poster presentations and plenty of time to talk about projects. Monday evening saw the majority of attendees join us at St. John’s College for the conference meal – a lot of long-term friendships and working relationships are built away from the presentation time.
We are proud to have had presentations from two of our own – Kat Stanbury presented her recent findings in the Segugio Italiano and Bruno Lopes, our PhD student, presented our Welsh Springer Spaniel story – as well as a poster presentation (including a 5-minute flash talk) from Ellen on her Osteogenesis Imperfecta project. We were very pleased to have the amazing Alex Cagan at the event, not only providing an insightful key note talk but also showing off his incredible drawing talents, producing an infographic illustration for every talk.
We were extremely grateful to Companion Animal Health and genetics journal for generously sponsoring the conference, and for agreeing to run a special collection titled “Genetics of Health in Companion Animal“. This collection, which is tied to the conference, will showcase innovative research, critical insights, and emerging trends presented during the conference.
