Canine Comparative Oncology & Genomics Consortium

CCOGC Background

In June of 2004, an informal collaboration of veterinary and medical oncologists, pathologists, surgeons, geneticists, and molecular and cellular biologists emerged at a meeting hosted by the Broad Institute, in Boston, MA. These investigators shared a common interest, the comparative study of canine and human genomics and cancer. With the imminent availability of a high quality canine genome assembly, they sought to leverage opportunities that would result from a better defined understanding of the genetics and biology of cancers in companion animals, to provide a forum for discussion and sharing of resources and reagents, and to guide the development of novel technologies that would allow the study and use of appropriate canine cancers in the global study of cancer biology and therapy. Over the ensuing months this collaboration named itself the Canine Comparative Oncology and Genomics Consortium (CCOGC) and began drafting an agenda and list of priorities. In 2007 the CCOGC incorporated as a Not-For-Profit and obtained 501(c)3 status. The goals of the CCOGC are to facilitate strategic partnerships and collaborations across a diversity of disciplines, focused on the problem of cancer in dogs. Early priorities of the CCOGC include advocacy for the field of Comparative Oncology, the development of a mechanism to share reagents and resources in the community, and the development of a biospecimen repository.