March 28, 2024
  • The genome database will electrical power ongoing scientific attempts globally and assist progress individualized pet overall health treatment
  • Insights from this partnership will feed into the MARS PETCARE BIOBANK™, a longitudinal review to comprehend pet wellbeing and sickness, transforming pet care for long term generations of dogs and cats
  • Mars Petcare Science & Diagnostics President, Nefertiti Greene, hailed the partnership as an “important milestone” and “integral to drive scientific breakthroughs for the long run of pet wellbeing”

NEW YORK, Jan. 9, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Mars Petcare is partnering with the Wide Institute of MIT and Harvard, a world chief in the genetic and molecular assessment of health conditions, to build a person of the premier open up accessibility cat and doggy genome databases in the environment.

Genomes from 10,000 dogs and 10,000 cats enrolled in the  MARS PETCARE BIOBANK™ initiative will be sequenced above the future 10 many years. Insights from the open up accessibility database can support advance individualized pet wellness care for potential generations of pet dogs and cats.

The complete genome sequence and variant information of the 20,000 animals will be created publicly obtainable by using the Nationwide Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Sequence Read Archive, enabling scientific investigation throughout a array of parts, this kind of as in-depth doggy- and cat-breed ancestry, new genetic mutations unique to particular canine and cat breeds and how they website link to illnesses, as effectively as pets’ growing old procedure.

Mars Petcare anticipates releasing the very first uncooked genome sequences as quickly as they grow to be accessible during 2023, with extra, processed data to abide by as animals are enrolled in the biobank research. Mars Petcare researchers will be analyzing info and publishing preliminary final results for the scientific local community all through 2023 and past.

Nefertiti Greene, Mars Petcare Science & Diagnostics President, claimed: 

“The option to far better fully grasp cat and dog genetics by means of specifically made gene sequencing studies is an important milestone that will help us provide on our Objective: A Better Globe For Pets. Jointly with our companions at the Broad Institute we hope to discover various key strategies to offer clinically centered, serious-world data. This is important for creating much more helpful precision medicines and that direct to scientific breakthroughs for the upcoming of pet wellness.”

By connecting the in-depth genome sequencing data to biological samples, health and fitness and way of living data from 20,000 puppies and cats in the MARS PETCARE BIOBANK™ analyze, Mars Petcare aims to obtain new ways to avoid or forecast a huge variety of circumstances so that veterinary teams can supply customized options to unique pets and improve wellbeing outcomes.

Jennifer Welser, DVM, DACVO, Main Clinical Officer, Mars Veterinary Wellbeing, explained:

“Our most up-to-date initiative with the Wide Institute is hugely interesting when it will come to advancing preventive pet care. This task could help us more recognize how we can develop individualized pet care options for each individual one of a kind pet dog or cat, which has the opportunity to turn out to be part of schedule health care apply.  As veterinarians, we’re generally searching to enhance affected person outcomes and for new approaches to address some of the most pressing pet health care difficulties these types of as weight problems, skin situations, dental illness, infectious and zoonotic health conditions, orthopedic issues and, of program, most cancers. I search ahead to viewing how the open up accessibility details can enable new insights supporting individualized pet wellness.”

Sequencing and evaluation will be spearheaded by Elinor Karlsson, director of the Vertebrate Genomics Team at Broad Institute and professor of bioinformatics and integrative biology at UMass Chan Clinical Faculty. The Wide Institute is a world chief in delivering genetic data for biobank jobs, making the databases and applications that have manufactured doable systematic experiments of the genetic foundation of disorder.

Prof Elinor Karlsson, Director of the Vertebrate Genomics Group, Broad Institute, mentioned: 
“We are thrilled to partner with Mars Petcare to build an open entry useful resource of full-genome sequences for countless numbers of pet cats and canines residing in houses across the United States. Generating this data fully obtainable to the world scientific local community will provide new insight into the historical origins of canines and cats—who have lived by our sides for 1000’s of years—and help study initiatives focused on strengthening health care for animals living nowadays.”

The MARS PETCARE BIOBANK™ and genome sequencing initiatives are section of Mars Petcare’s long-standing commitment to investing in science, technological know-how and innovation. The corporation has a nicely-recognized background in driving transformative pet well being innovation by the Waltham Petcare Science Institute, which has centered on pet wellbeing for in excess of 50 several years and through Mars Veterinary Overall health, a network of 2,500 veterinary clinics and Antech diagnostic labs throughout far more than 20 nations around the world.

About Mars Petcare 
Mars Petcare is element of Mars, Included, a loved ones-owned business with far more than a century of historical past making varied items and featuring companies for people and the pets people today love. Our nearly 100,000 Associates across 130 international locations are dedicated to 1 reason: A Superior Globe FOR Animals. With 85 years of working experience, our portfolio of pretty much 50 brand names serves the wellness and nourishment requires of the world’s animals – which includes brand names PEDIGREE®, WHISKAS®, ROYAL CANIN®, SHEBA®, CESAR®, GREENIES™,  IAMS™ and EUKANUBA™ as properly as the WALTHAM Petcare Science Institute which has sophisticated investigate in the diet and health and fitness of pets for above 50 decades. Mars Petcare is also a leading veterinary wellbeing provider by an worldwide community of far more than 2,500 pet hospitals and diagnostic companies including AniCura, AntechAsia Veterinary Diagnostics BANFIELD, BLUEPEARLLinnaeus, Mount Enjoyable, VCAVES, and VSH. We are also lively in innovation and know-how for animals, with Knowledge PANEL™ genetic wellness screening and DNA tests for dogs, the WHISTLE™ GPS pet tracker, and LEAP Undertaking STUDIO accelerator and COMPANION FUND™ systems that generate innovation and disruption in the pet treatment marketplace. As a household enterprise and guided by our concepts, we are creating a flourishing and inclusive workforce reflective of the quite a few pets and communities we serve, privileged with the versatility to battle for what we imagine in. And we pick to battle for our Function: A Much better Entire world FOR Animals. 

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