主要研究 今天

主要研究 researchers who have been working to better understand what is causing a respiratory illness in dogs since making a significant discovery in relation to the mysterious infection last fall will receive a boost thanks to a grant from the American Kennel Club Canine 健康 Foundation (CHF).

去年11月, researchers at 主要研究’s New Hampshire Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (NHVDL) and Hubbard Center for Genome Studies (HCGS) made a critical advance in connection to the illness, which has affected thousands of dogs and perplexed veterinarians throughout the country.

这笔赠款总额略高于308美元,000 – is the first 主要研究 has ever received from the American Kennel Club and is particularly significant because the university does not have a veterinary school, 大卫·缝衣针说, pathology section chief at the NHVDL and clinical associate professor in the 生命科学学院 and 农业 (COLSA).

去年秋天, the 主要研究 researchers identified a small portion of the genome of a previously uncharacterized bacteria that may be causing the illness, 对70只狗的样本进行基因测序. 他们继续探索这种细菌, and the hope is that the new funding will bolster that process and perhaps lead to finding ways to treat the illness.

“We’re going to be able to use this funding to leverage the best genomic sequencing that exists to really define this potential pathogen,针头说. “它可以帮助指导未来的研究，也可能有助于指导治疗.”

“所有年龄和品种的狗都容易受到呼吸道感染. This project addresses a growing concern and is an exciting opportunity to learn more about canine respiratory pathogens,斯蒂芬妮·蒙哥马利说。, 瑞士法郎的首席执行官. "We hope an improved understanding will lead to prevention and better treatments safeguarding our beloved companions."

The 主要研究 researchers plan to utilize multiple techniques to build a complete picture of the interaction between the potential pathogen, 狗的微生物群与动物健康. They will use metabarcoding – an analysis of specific shorter segments of a gene that are common but also vary within a population – to better understand the bacterial and fungal microbiome of affected dogs. 除了, 他们将利用杂交捕获, wherein hundreds of probes directed at myriad known viruses will define the viral component of the microbiome.

最后，该团队将对阳性病例子集使用霰弹枪宏基因组学. 这是下一代测序中最强大的技术, 针说, 它提供了所有遗传物质(宿主, 样品中的微生物组和潜在病原体(或病原体). If the researchers can learn more about what happens to the dog’s microbiome through this work, 它可能有助于找到有助于诊断和治疗这种疾病的发现. 结合获得正在进行的临床诊断病例, these cutting-edge molecular techniques and the analyses associated with them are unique to the NHVDL-HCGS collaboration, 针说.

Dogs continue to be afflicted by the illness that first hit headlines last fall. 针说 that samples continue to come into the lab – he said they’ve had a “continuous steady stream” since the news broke – and that California recently had its first occurrence of a symptomatic dog in which genetic material of the potential pathogen was present.

联合国儿童基金会在继续开展这项工作方面具有独特的地位, 多亏了NHVDL和哈伯德中心的设施, 针说. He pointed to previous investments that have created a “robust core facility” that will allow the team to take advantage of the best long-read technology in relation to the research.

That means that while the CHF grant will certainly further the current investigation regarding the dog illness, 它还可能产生更重大的长期影响.

“At the very least this funding will let us hammer down and define this bacteria better, but we’re also going to find things out that are going to be informative and helpful in the ways we characterize respiratory disease more broadly,针头说.