Celebrating the Breakthroughs Shaping the Future of Canine Health. Meet the 2025 Canine Health Discovery Award Finalists.

02081-A: Integrating Cutting Edge Science with Scientific Training to Defeat Hemangiosarcoma

Canine hemangiosarcoma (HSA) is an intractable disease with no warning signs and no effective treatments. Contemporary research is overturning long-held, yet incorrect assumptions about its origins and biological behavior. One approach to accelerate progress is to bring young, talented scientists with no deep-held biases into the field and allow them to evaluate data with a […]

02171-MOU: Histiocytic Sarcoma in Bernese Mountain Dogs: Novel Approaches To Treatment

Canine histiocytic sarcoma (HS) is a highly aggressive cancer that affects Bernese Mountain Dogs (BMD), with a particularly high prevalence rate that ranges from 15 to 25% of the population. The current treatment options for HS are based on the administration of conventional chemotherapeutic drugs, to which dogs respond poorly and only for a short […]

01557: Narrowing the Search for the Genetic Basis of Histiocytic Malignancies

In a previous study (CHF-760) Dr. Breen demonstrated that canine histiocytic malignancies (HMs) present with a high degree of DNA copy number alterations. His research group identified several aberrant regions of the genome that are highly recurrent between cases, suggesting that such regions are associated causally with the malignant process. Understanding the biology of genes […]

0001440: Evaluating the Causative Mutation for von Willebrand’s Disease in the Doberman Pinscher and Its Possible Role in Other Breeds

This research was responsible for the development of five genetic tests for von Willebrand’s disease (vWD). vWD is an inherited bleeding disorder that is seen frequently in Doberman Pinschers. In Dobermans, it is autosomal recessive (affected dogs receive one mutated gene from each parent). Researchers determined that Dobermans have a very high frequency of this […]

03228: Identification of Tumor-Specific Proteins for Targeted Therapy in Solid and Disseminated Histiocytic Sarcoma

Canine Histiocytic Sarcoma (HS) is a frequent and fatal neoplastic disease that affects dogs from different breeds, with a particular predisposition in Bernese Mountain Dogs and Flat-Coated Retrievers. As currently available therapies are unable to provide reliable and sustainable control of the disease, novel approaches are urgently needed to help affected patients. Novel approaches, such […]

01762: Use of Plasma-Derived Growth Factors to Heal Cruciate Rupture

Over the last year, we have completed patient recruitment and recheck examinations for this study. We enrolled 29 dogs in this prospective clinical trial, 27 of which completed the study. One dog was lost to follow up and one dog died before completion of the study due to unrelated disease. All dogs enrolled in the […]

01601: Identifying the Genetic Cause of Fatal Neonatal Liver Disease

Intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (IHPSS) is a liver disease caused by a failure to close a vessel that regulates blood flow from the placenta to vital organs like the lungs and heart during fetal development. This vessel should close within a few days after birth so that the liver is no longer bypassed by the vital […]