It has been my privilege to work in the field of canine genetics since 1991, and to have headed the Kennel Club Genetics Centre since its foundation in 2009. During that time, this research space has evolved considerably; my first role was to identify some of the very first genetic markers within the canine genome – today we can sequence the whole genome of any dog for less than the price of an average puppy.
In 2017, as part of the Give a Dog a Genome project, we sequenced the genome of an Old English Sheepdog (OES) that had been diagnosed with hereditary cataracts under the BVA/KC/ISDS Eye Scheme. This was the start of a project that turned out to be a lot more complex than we initially thought it would be, and that was disrupted by both covid and our move from the Animal Health Trust to the University of Cambridge, but that we finally concluded at the end of last year. Continue reading
The Kennel Club Genetics Centre (KCGC) held a first Research Day on Friday 22 September 2023 at the University of Cambridge’s West Hub facility. It was the first such day we have hosted since the demise of the Animal Health Trust and subsequently joining the University of Cambridge in 2021.
The event was attended by 44 representatives of 29 breeds. Thank you to each of you you made the journey to Cambridge to see us. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.
The Kennel Club Genetics Centre has an archive of over 40,000 DNA samples that has been collected over decades. This collection, which contains DNA from dogs of nearly two hundred different breeds of dog, has played a central role in all the KCGC’s successful research projects. But it has also contributed to research done by teams of researchers from other institutions. Continue reading
In recent years multiple dogs of the Old English Sheepdog (OES) breed have been diagnosed with an ocular (eye) disease that can affect multiple parts of the eye and is therefore known as multiocular defect (MOD). Most affected dogs suffer from cataracts, but additional abnormalities can include any of the following:
Give a Dog a Genome (GDG), launched in 2016, was an ambitious project aimed initially at sequencing the entire genomes of 50 dogs of 50 different breeds. The genome bank was created by researchers working in the Kennel Club Genetics Centre (KCGC), to facilitate the identification of genetic variants that underpin painful, blinding and debilitating inherited canine disorders. Give a Dog a Genome was jointly funded by the Kennel Club Charitable Trust and individual breed communities.
When Give a Dog a Genome was launched the KCGC was based at the Animal Health Trust (AHT) but following the permanent closure of the AHT in July 2020, the KCGC has now relocated to the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Cambridge. Continue reading
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