Brad Kelley/The Daily EvergreenDr. Katrina Mealey, Dr. Michael Court, and Taylor Gwinn swabs Harley for DNA at the School of Veterinary Medicine. Several years ago in a lab at WSU, Katrina Mealey discovered a genetic mutation in herding dogs that produces an alarming reaction to medication for parasites.

If you gave it to certain collies, they would go into a coma; but other dogs, it didnt affect them at all, said Mealey, a professor who runs the universitys Veterinary Clinical Pharmacology Laboratory.

Mealey published her findings in 2001, and today, she offers a test for dogs to screen for the genetic mutation.

We have owners and veterinarians from all around the world send a cheek swab that just gives us a little bit of DNA from the dog, and we can tell them whether they should avoid that drug completely or whether they should use a decreased dose, she said. Were basically saving dogs lives every day.

Mealeys work is part of a budding field of research called pharmacogenetics, often colloquially referred to as individualized medicine a subfield of pharmacology that examines how genetic variations among patients produce differing responses to drugs.

While individualized medicine is common in human health care, Mealey is one of only a handful of researchers across the globe focusing on the pharmacogenetics of animals. And now, she is part of a new team at WSU which is the first program ever created to study individualized medicine in animals.

For now, Mealey is one of only two researchers in the program. Her partner, professor Michael Court, came to WSU about four months ago, bringing with him a background in veterinary anesthesiology.

During his time as an anesthesiologist, Court gained firsthand experience observing the effects of anesthesia on dogs.

What amazed me was how different was their response to the anesthesia, he said.

Some dogs recovered much quicker than others, he said. Greyhounds, for instance, exhibited a much longer recovery period when exposed to certain types of anesthesia.

More here:
Ground breaking research saves animals in hospital

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