The Canine Genetics and Canine Genetics Testing teams shared a stand for a busy four days at Crufts 2024.
We would like to thank everyone who came and visited us to ask about genetic testing, to make donations to our appeal and to wish us well. It was fantastic to meet in person so many people who have donated to help support the CGC, from the UK and form further afield – we think California was the furthest that anyone had travelled! Continue reading
Most of our readers will know that the Canine Genetics Centre (CGC) is facing a significant funding gap, and is appealing to dog owners, breeders and enthusiasts to help us plug the gap until longer-term funding can be secured. Continue reading
Alongside our current genetic investigations of idiopathic epilepsy in the Border Collie and Italian Spinone, we are embarking on an exciting new study starting this year to investigate the genetics of epilepsy in five new breeds – the Beagle, English Springer Spaniel, Giant Schnauzer, Hungarian Vizsla and Irish Setter. Continue reading
The canine genetics team would like to express their profound gratitude for all the supportive messages that we have received since Cathryn’s presentation last week. It has been very heartwarming to hear how much our work is appreciated, all around the world, and what a difference we have made to so many breeds. Continue reading
Thank you to everyone who took the time to join us for Cathryn’s presentation about the future of the Canine Genetics Centre at the University of Cambridge. The presentation and Q&A session were recorded and can you watch/listen to it below or via our YouTube channel. Please feel free to share far-and-wide. We have also provided a written summary of the current situation. Continue reading
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
