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Our laboratory focuses on characterizing the inheritance of health disorders and other traits in the dog. This work, done with the essential collaboration of Dr. Thomas R. Famula of the UC Davis Animal Science Department, has first concentrated on demonstrating whether particular disorders and traits are indeed heritable, and if so, what is the predicted mode of inheritance. Once a genetic basis to a disorder is confirmed, a concerted search for the molecular defect associated with that disorder or trait can be identified. This approach has been applied to deafness in Dalmatians, epilepsy in the Belgian Shepherd, English Mastiff, Giant Schnauzer, and Poodle, and Addison’s disease in Bearded Collies, Leonbergers, Portuguese Water Dogs, Standard Poodles, and West Highland White Terriers.