The American Kennel Club and the AKC Canine Health Foundation are pleased to debut the next podcast in the Genome Barks series.

This week's podcast is a follow up to our recent interview with Dr. Matthew Breen.  Dr. Breen, while a world renowned cancer researcher, is also the Treasurer of the Canine Comparative Oncology & Genomics Consortium (CCOGC).  Jointly sponsored by the AKC Canine Health Foundation and Morris Animal Foundation, the CCOGC is a collaboration of veterinary and medical oncologists, pathologists, surgeons, geneticists, and molecular and cellular biologists.  This group determined that a well-described repository of tissues (tumor and normal) from tumor bearing dogs was an essential resource needed for advancing our understanding of canine cancer.  The biospecimen repository, sponsored by Pfizer, houses tumor tissue, normal tissues, serum, plasma, peripheral blood mononuclear cell preparations, genomic DNA, RNA and urine samples. The goal is to obtain 3,000 samples of lymphoma, osteosarcoma, melanoma, hemangiosarcoma, soft tissue sarcoma/histiocytic sarcoma, mast cell tumors and lung cancer.

The Genome Barks podcast series features lectures from the highly successful AKC-CHF Breeders Symposia. Future podcasts will also provide responsible breeders and pet owners an inside look at the work being done by the AKC and the AKC Canine Health Foundation.

New podcasts are released every two weeks and can be accessed from either the American Kennel Club website at www.akc.org or the AKC Canine Health Foundation website at www.akcchf.org – click on “Podcasts”. They will also be available on Apple's iTunes® and at www.akc-akcchf.libsyn.com.

Clubs are encouraged to add the Genome Barks podcast link to their home pages.  Contact the AKC Canine Health Foundation to obtain graphics and links.