Manx scientist Dr Rachel Glover has launched a pioneering new ‘start-up’ business which allows pet owners to have their dogs DNA tested.

Dr Glover, 37, has designed a genetic health screen that will check a dog for 160 different inherited diseases.

And it all can be done with just a cheek swab done from home.

Speaking from her pet genetics laboratory in Village Walk, Onchan, Rachel claimed the test is a ‘first’ for the Isle of Man over the British Isles.

Rachel is the brains behind Taxa Genomics Limited, and is one of the newest members of the growing Manx Biomed business sector.

The former St Ninian’s High School pupil has also made her name as a member of the Isle of Man’s shooting team thatwent to the Commonwealth Games.

And she also hit the headlines in 2015 with her study of the genetic make up of tailless Manx cats.

Rachel said she ‘spent quite a lot of time looking for suitable premises’ to base the business.

Rachel, who lives in Douglas, said she originally trained after university as a microbiologist and spent most of her career in developing diagnostic DNA tests for things like viruses and bacteria as a scientist for the UK government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs [DEFRA] in York.

‘A lot of my work was around developing diagnostic DNA tests for whatever we were working on whether it be honeybees, bacteria, plant viruses, fungal spores and all kinds of weird and wonderful things.’

Rachel believes there is a lot of potential from a business point of view for pet genetics.

‘Everybody who has a pet whether that is a cat or a dog, is usually obsessed with it, the people of the Isle of Man love their pets.

‘There was a real opportunity for me here to start my own business.

‘Diagnostic DNA tests are at a stage where they are available to consumers and I saw an opportunity to develop a new test where we could put 160 inherited diseases in one test.

‘Currently there are two labs in the United States who have this kind of health testing but they tie it in with a breed test. That can be quite expensive because you would have to pay for the breed test as well.

‘ We are also developing a breed test but we want to sell the health test separately.

‘For instance if you have a King Charles Spaniel you won’t need to do a breed test.

‘We are also the first lab in the British Isles to offer a product like this.

‘There areother labs that do DNA testing of animals but it is one test per disease.

‘Those tests are about £40 each. So if you were going to do an entire screen of your dog for all the diseases that it could be screened for, at £40 a test that is going to be very expensive.’

She pointed out that the ‘all-in’ test with her business is £89.

Rachel said from her point of view she had the technical expertise to create her own business. She left DEFRA last August after living and working in York for around 15 years, and decided to return to her roots in the island.

She had already forged links with the Manx Biomed Cluster which supports and promotes businesses involved in biomed work. Dr Glover said she was fortunate when graduated from universities in Aberdeen [degree in microbiology], Manchester [Masters] and Exeter [Phd].

Rachel says there is a co-founder and joint director of the business who is an ecologist living in Aberdeen.

‘She is more on the strategy and species identification side of the business.’

Business News asked who her customers are? She said: ‘For the pet genetics side it is the dog owners.

‘We sell tests to breeders and vets as well but our new screening test with the 160 diseases is designed for owners to be able to order a little swab kit. They can swab their dogs, send it back and we will test the DNA and they will get a report back that tells themwhether their dog is clear for each and every one of those 160 diseases. If the dog is at risk we wil let them know and give them a report that they can take to their vets so that the vet can understand that100 per cent this dog will get this disease or if there is a risk factor.’

Rachel said: ‘Dogs in particular are more likely to have an inherited disease than we humans are because of the breeding practices over the last few hundred years.

‘In order to create those breeds there has been a lot of in breeding. I think this test will help people to manage their pet’s care so if they know that maybe by the age of 10 their dog is going to get something, with the right treatments the symptoms can be managed.

‘If you know something is going to happen, then, one, your vet will know straightaway and you can keep an eye out for those symptoms.

Rachel said she believes there is a real benefit in checking: ‘That’s where my motivation to develop the test comes from.’

She added: ‘People should know.’

She said there were people who had brought puppies ‘for a very large amount of money’ who were told that they had been health tested.

She said: ‘Different breeders have different definitions of what health testing is.’

Rachel said she has made a ‘significant investment’ to equip the genetic lab. It is still early days for the business and as part of her cmapaign to get the message out there Rachel was at the Manx Show last weekend with a trade stand.