This has probably been covered but I can't find the thread
We're looking for a good place to do DNA testing (HCM, PKD, MPSM mainly) does anyone know of somwhere that does multi-panel testing (besides CatGenes?) It seems silly to me to send samples off to one place for HCM, another for PKD and yet another for MPSM, and I've heard mixed reviews about CatGenes so not sure if I want to use them. Doesn't have to be in Australia. Thanks!
The DNA tests for PKD and MPSM have not been confirmed for Ragdolls, so take any results with that in mind. The best place to test for HCM is Dr. Meurs' lab. However, Dr. Lyons' lab (UC Davis) tests for both PKD and HCM. I cannot tell you about labs in Australia.
Hi Jo
I don't know whether they test all in the one test but I have seen this website on the Feline Association of SA website. They are Australian.
http://www.animalsdna.com/feline/
This probably isn't very helpful as I haven't read the website to see whether they do it in the one test, but I thought I'd suggest it anyway.
Cloe
Use the Melbourne lab, the link has already been posted, WSU or UCD. Avoid Catgenes like the plague.
HCM is the only test that is verified for Ragdolls, PKD and MPSM are rare in most Ragdoll populations from what I have found and the tests are not reliable anyhow. The multipanel test might be cheap but you get what you pay for, in Catgenes case, at best no results and at worst wrong results. If you are going to make decisions based on the test results, and why else would you test, then get results that you have confidence in. The cat is more valuable than the difference in cost of the tests and the amount of effort to get samples and send them in is negligible.
Mike
Thanks for the tips
I've ordered some kits from Animal DNA Laboratory VIC (they're free yay) and I'll look into the others suggested.
Hi.
The Melbourne lab uses exactly the same tests and methods as WSU and UCD so there is no need to use them, at least for HCM.
Mike
Thats good to know Mike! Ta
(05-04-2010 07:42 PM)mikewci Wrote: [ -> ]The Melbourne lab uses exactly the same tests and methods as WSU and UCD so there is no need to use them, at least for HCM.
I would not assume that. In fact, I do not believe that UC Davis and WSU use the same tests and methods, although Dr Meurs may have helped UC Davis with its protocol, since Drs. Meurs and Lyons work on some projects together. I do not believe Dr. Meurs has participated in the testing issues of any other lab in the world other than perhaps UC Davis.
I don't assume anything.
Dr. Meurs developed her PKD test regime while she was at UCD before she went to WSU. UCD licences other labs to use their methodology and the Melbourne lab is licenced by UCD to use it. As I said, and I repeat, the Melbourne lab uses the same tests and methodology under licence from the University labs.
If you want confirmation, email the labs directly and ask them.
Mike
The license may be for the invention of the DNA location and meaning of it and not about testing methodologies, which tend to be particular to the lab and scientist. Dr. Meurs has discussed her effort to move from her research techniques to the full test. This "tradecraft" was not from any PKD era effort, even if she did the comparable effort for the UC Davis test.
I was speaking of the techniques she uses to "cut" the strands - the formulas for that and the materials used to do quality control of the testing process, although there are probably additional differences. To take one example, I do not believe that the UC Davis protocol results in double samples being tested.
I would not even assume that the Melbourne lab is licensed. Dr. Meurs had not licensed anyone when commercial labs in Europe and Catgenes started to offer the tests and violate her patent. There was to be no enforcement effort. (I do not believe an academic lab like UC Davis would proceed without her approval, but commercial labs have and are doing so.)
It is true that, for example, Catgenes has a completely different approach and it is quite possible that all of Melbourne, UC Davis and WSU are much more alike in their tests and methods than any are like Catgenes.
One major reason to use Dr. Meurs' lab is that it is a non-profit project to assure that we would have someplace to test our cats and information from that effort and any leftover funds go directly into her feline HCM research. For example, Dr. Meurs is now collecting HCM experience data for Ragdolls which her lab has tested. Cats not in that group are unavailable for that database that will help us understand the progression and treatment of HCM in Ragdolls.
By the way, Dr. Lyons is understood to be the primary researcher with respect to the PKD DNA discovery. I do not know if Dr. Meurs was involved, but she is not even a co-author on the articles discussing the discovery. Dr. Meurs research is centered in cardiology, although she also did the feline genome.
I do not know the timing between Dr. Lyon's return to UC Davis and their offering of the DNA PKD test, but assume she was the person most involved from the discovery team. (Dr. Meurs lab ONLY offers testing for her own discoveries and does not include PKD testing. Her lab is the Veterinary CARDIAC Genetics Laboratory.)