Embark Veterinary Inc

A sample contaminated with another dog’s DNA will fail our quality control: if we get more than two different copies for a segment of your dog’s genome (called a haplotype), barring the unlikely event that the dog is aneuploid (with an abnormal copy number of any given chromosome), we know that more than one dog’s DNA is in the sample and will issue you a reswab immediately. It’s the DNA that defines the breed, and what Embark reports on is the DNA. It’s important to go into testing your dog’s DNA for breed mix with an open mind. Some preconceived notions about your dog’s breed are bound to go out the window when you have as high resolution of a genotyping platform as Embark’s.

My earliest experiences as a biologist came in the rainforests of Costa Rica and Panama studying all different sorts of tropical biodiversity, and also getting friendly with the free-ranging dogs wandering around the nearby towns (my family even adopted a dog in Panama when we lived there). Years later when I jumped at the chance to become a canine geneticist at Cornell (dream come true!), I made it a priority to study not just the amazing diversity of purebred and mixed breed pet dogs, but also these natural populations of dogs living alongside people everywhere. Recently, my lab published the largest canine genetic mapping study to date as well as the most powerful analysis of the genetic diversity of man’s best friend. , how can we reduce the prevalence of hip dysplasia in some breeds, how can we reduce the impact of autoimmune disorders and cardiac disease—will require very large numbers of study subjects, far more than can possibly be collected by one scientist or one university.