Sorry Cyndy, I am behind with emails etc and have only just seen your message.
Hi folks...here is an updated post with info from Brian Davis and the resaerch they are doing.
PLEASE CONTACT BRIAN DIRECT IF YOU ARE ABLE TO HELP. (His email address is at the bottom)
Dear All,
The THINK project has had a contact from a researcher called Brian Davis who is part of a team that has funding to research thoracic problems in felines, mostly to do with pectus, but linked to FCKS. Since any research at all is useful and relevant I'm letting you know of his contact details.
What Brian wants is swabs from kittens with FCKS, but you may have survivors among you and he might be interested in having swabs from them, and of course if you happen to have a flat kitten or litter that would be excellent from his point of view.
I have copied below one of the messages from him. I would be very grateful if you could circulate this as widely as possible. HIs contact details are at the foot of the message.
He tells me that the research will continue after the end of the funding, so it is worth contacting him even if you think you may be outside his time limits.
All best,
Julia
+++++++++++++
We are very excited to be pursuing answers to this problem using as many methods as possible. We are very aware of the highly variable presentation of FCK and PE, and hope to be able to draw links between them, and between the metabolic and environmental factors that many breeders seem to experience. Multifactorial genetic diseases can be very tricky to dissect, and we hope that sampling a large number of affected individuals combined with advanced methods will help us identify the regions of the genome that are contributing to a susceptibility gradient for these. However, we still require many more participants in our study. Our goal is about 50 more kittens with ACCURATELY documented conditions – pictures, xrays, veterinarian reports, detailed description, etc… [NOTE: they cannot fund this documentation, but hope that breeders will be able to supply reports from their vets.]
We are actively seeking samples from the breeding community. We can even provide sample kits, instructions, and return mailers to all who wish to contribute. We would certainly appreciate any contact with us from any owner or breeder who currently has a kitten with either condition. This email address, as well as the contact information in my signature is the best means to do so. Now that the holidays are over, I will be available to be contacted at any time of day by phone or email.
As far as sample management, sending the samples directly to us would be best. We are operating under a grant deadline, so the most expeditious manner would be direct contact with me. As of now, we primarily have been dealing with the Bengal community, but would very much like to include the Burmese and other communities as well.
We have hundreds of kits ready to ship out on a moment’s notice. We hope to be done collecting samples by the end of March, so that we can publish our initial findings by the end of 2012 (of which you will have complete access). We certainly appreciate your efforts towards informing and eradicating these conditions. We seek to be a significant contributor to this goal and are very excited to have your support.
Please let me know if you have any questions, or if there is anything I can do to help make your efforts easier!
Sincerely,
- Brian W. Davis, B.S., M.S., Ph.D. Candidate
- President, Genetics Graduate Student Association
- Graduate Student Council Representative, VIBS
Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, Texas A&M University
Veterinary Medical Research Building, Room 387
4458 TAMU College Station, TX 77843
bdavis@cvm.tamu.edu
(979) 492-4006
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