Research
The Comparative Neuromuscular Diseases Laboratory, directed by Dr Richard Piercy, is located at the Royal Veterinary College's Camden Campus and is a subgroup within the RVC's Neuromuscular Group which also includes Dr Susan Brown's group (Extracellular matric and muscular dystrophy) and Prof. Dominic Wells's group (Neuromuscular Diseases). Each group shares dedicated laboratory facilities and they combine for lab meetings and seminars on a weekly basis.
The Comparative Neuromuscular DIseases Laboratory researches a number of naturally occurring neuromuscular diseases of dogs, horses and cats, with particular emphasis on aetiology and pathogenesis, via genetic, cell and molecular biology techniques in the lab. There is increasing emphasis on utilising veterinary neuromuscular diseases to model similar or identical diseases of humans; consequently our aim is to generate answers that will be of benefit to both humans and animals.
The group is currently funded by the HorseRace Betting Levy Board, BBSRC, Myotubular Trust, Petplan Charitable Trust, Wellcome Trust and Industry sources.
We have a number of important collaborations, including with the following groups:
University of Minnesota, Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory
Ecole nationale vétérinaire d'Alfort;
University of California Davis, Comparative Neuromuscular Laboratory
Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine
Ongoing Studies:
In a collaboration with the University of Minnesota, we are helping recruit cases of Shivers in horses. Please visit this website for more details.