Western University of Health Sciences (College Of Veterinary Medicine)

This project will design a cohesive strategy for integrating methods of functional genomics into the captive breeding plans of endangered species in order to enhance species diversity and robustness. This planning grant will support a strategic planning workshop for interested parties, establish partnerships, and collect "proof of principle" data, in preparation for using snow leopard immune-genomics as the test case for this model. The final performance product, in partnership with the Great Plains Zoo and Museum and the University of Oregon, will be a submission for a full NLG Project Grant on this topic.