DNA never analyzed

[kathy janes]

Has anyone else sent their DNA kit it, had confirmation of it being received, then heard nothing at all after that? The day the lab received the kit is noted in “my laboratory” but nothing else is there and it has been over a year! In the meantime, he has had some health issues and then passed away in May of 2018 due to hemangiosarcoma. I’d like to contribute this additional information to the team.

[brittney logan]

Hi Kathy,

First off, we are so sorry to hear of your loss. Your dog is still more than welcome to continue to contribute to our study if you wish!

We understand your frustrations with the wait, but this is purely research, we are not a business so things run a bit differently.

The wait time is due to various aspect, the top one being limited grant money, so we cannot send out all of the sample were receive at once. We have made changes our webpage and made Darwin’s Ark into a non-profit in order to provide participants with more options and say in when their dogs samples goes out for sequencing. 🙂

Since grant money is the main factor in the wait, owners can now fund their dogs sample if they want it to go out for sequeincing right away! (if you have already sent in your dogs sample and have answered the surveys, then funding your dogs sample is $99.00)

This is of course optional, and you can remain participating for free if you wish. Free participation means that we will be funding your dogs sample from our available grant money for the project. This is where the waitlist comes into play according to when you enrolled and completed the surveys.

If you would like to learn more about our new participation levels, I have provided the link to our FAQ page below. I hope this helps! Again, our condolences go out to you, and we thank you very much for enrolling your dog in our canine behavioral genetics research.

FAQs

[kathy janes]

Is there an expiration date to the DNA? It is over one year old now. If I was confident that it was still good and could contribute to the research, I’d gladly make the donation. Because Mater had a ruptured canine cruciate ligament, and torn canine cruciate ligament, autoimmune thrombocytopenia and autoimmune hemolytic anemia, all when he was 8 years old (but not concurrently), I think there is a potential for valuable markers that could help prevent other dogs from suffering.
Thanks,
Kathy

[marjie alonso]

Hi Kathy,
We still have Mater’s sample here safe and sound. It looks great and should still be stable. We have been able to send out samples that were over 2 years old and still receive back great results. I will say, however, that this is science, and 100% guarantees just don’t come with science. I guess that’s the good news and the bad news, as sometimes new and exciting things are discovered when things go wrong, and sometimes things going wrong just lead to disappointment and frustration. I have no reason at all to think that anything would go wrong with sequencing Mater’s DNA, but I just wanted to be sure that was said.

It’s remarkably kind and generous of you to consider a donation. If you decide to do so, because we have the sample here and all of the survey questions have been answered, the total cost would be $99.00.

I can’t believe what you and your poor dog went through, all in one year! Yes, it certainly seems that his and your contribution could be extremely valuable. Because we share our data freely, it might be us, it might be another research team in another country, but every sample we get will contribute to someone’s research somewhere, at some point. Dogs like Mater will certainly help point us to relieving these awful health issues, or ones like them, as our knowledge grows.

Please know that a donation is not required or expected, but that it would be very much appreciated, and would help us get Mater’s DNA into the study pool more quickly.

Thank you for your thoughtfulness!

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