July 1, 2020 – The Golden Retriever Lifetime Study team is looking for golden retrievers over 12 years of age that have never been diagnosed with cancer to participate as control subjects in a cancer research project.
Dr. Erin Hales, postdoctoral fellow with the Study, is studying genetic changes that may contribute to cancer in golden retrievers. Older dogs (older than dogs enrolled in the Study) are needed as controls. These are dogs that have lived well into old age and successfully avoided the cancers that take the lives of so many younger golden retrievers. To fill this need, the Golden Oldies project was born.
To participate, dogs must be purebred golden retrievers, preferably registered with the AKC. Owners will complete a brief survey to sign up and then, if selected, fill out a short questionnaire. Each dog will have a blood sample drawn by their family veterinarian for DNA extraction. This DNA will be compared to DNA from Study dogs diagnosed with cancer to look for differences that could be a clue to why some dogs get cancer and others don’t.
By establishing a control group, Dr. Hales can start analyzing Study cancer samples now, meaning faster results to share with veterinarians, dog owners and researchers.
We’ll be sending out more specific information as soon as we have a target date for project launch. Who knows – maybe your dog could be a Golden Oldie! If you have questions in the meantime, you can reach us at goldenoldies@morrisanimalfoundation.org ehales@morrisanimalfoundation.org
You must be logged in to post a comment.