Veterinary Medical Genetics
GENETICS
Do you think that a proficiency in genetics is only useful in research? Well, think again! Genetic diseases are becoming more prevalent in veterinary medicine, and breeders and owners will be seeking the knowledge and advice from veterinarians in a clinical setting.
What do you suggest to an owner who just heard about a new DNA test and wants to know what breeds make up her mixed dog, is this new test reliable? How do you help a breeder that just found out they have a lethal genetic disease in their breeding lines? A background in genetics is important to answer these and many other questions that will arise in practice.
This website acts as a supplement to the core course in genetics. Eight lectures of material have been removed from the course to make room for more problem-based learning. This website will present the content of those lectures in an interactive way.
It is expected that you will spend several hours exploring this site as part of the course. Those hours spent are factored into the contact hours that make this course worth 2 credits.
Please note that you are not expected to memorize the material presented on this site as you will not be tested on it in an examination setting. The site provides many sample problems that will prepare you for the progressive exam, which is a take-home problem set. By looking through the site, you will be exposed to the material needed to answer the problems given on the site as well as problems that may appear on the take-home exam.
Since many students come into veterinary school with some background in genetics, you may have been exposed previously to some of the material presented on the site. If that is the case, feel free to review the material on the site. If you have not had much background in genetics, you may need to spend more time in certain areas of the site.
One of the main functions of this website is to present sample problems Some of these problems are embedded within the site, while most of them can be found in the problem sets area of the genetic testing portion of the site. The problems will cover material from all areas of the site.