DNA bank

The Cornell Medical Genetic Archive (DNA bank) is a program at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine that links medical information from your pet to its DNA. This archive includes samples taken with owners consent from dogs, cats, horses, cows and exotic animals with a range of specific diseases.

Cornell veterinarians and their colleagues study a variety of inherited animal diseases in patients. These diseases include cancer, liver disease, bleeding disorders, behavioral problems, orthopedic diseases, endocrinopathies and cardiac disease. The archive will provide clinicians and pre-clinical scientists with the basics of genetic investigation: the DNA and medical information that accurately defines the disease. Investigators relate the genetic information present in the DNA to the medical information to find the genes that contribute to, protect from, or cause illness.

If you are bringing your purebred animal to Cornell, we would like your consent to enter your pet in this program. No information, genetic or otherwise, will be divulged about your pet to any outside person or agency.

The information we generate from this archive will help us develop better diagnosis and treatment for your pets, develop new genetic tests for many inherited diseases, and possibly develop new drugs.