current studies
In 2008, Morris Animal Foundation will fund about 120 new and continuing studies for dogs, cats, horses, llamas/alpacas, and wildlife as well as 30 veterinary student projects.
We also have numerous studies nearing completion. You can search our current study database by species and/or disease to learn more about the studies we are funding in the areas you care most about. The results will also show you whether a study is available for sponsorship.
INSTRUCTIONS - Select a division from the left column, a disease or disorder from the middle column, and a study ID number from the right column.
D07ZO-623: “Development of Genetic Markers to Test the Correlation of Kin Relationships with Disease in Southern Sea Otters”
principal investigator: Lydia Lam, Veterinary Student Scholar, University of California, Davis
needs sponsorship
year: 1 of 1: $3,000.00
Southern sea otters are a threatened species living off the coast of California. Despite legal protections since 1911, they have an extremely high death rate and their population numbers are not increasing. Diseases of the brain and heart are a major cause of death for many sea otters. The student scholar will look at genetic factors that may contribute to disease and help explain why the southern sea otter remains endangered. In particular, she hopes to use regions of DNA as tools to identify whether sea otters with a specific heart disease are more likely to be related to one another than to otters without the disease.
