Dr. MacKenzie Pellin, Dr. Laurie Malone & Dr. Patricia Ungar: Sniffer Dogs: Detect Cancer and COVID

In this episode, Therese Markow, Dr. MacKenzie Pellin, Dr. Laurie Malone, and Dr. Patricia Ungar explore how dogs can detect early signs of cancer and COVID-19. They discuss their collaborative research, how the dogs are trained, and the types of diseases that these medical scent dogs can help to identify. They also discuss how the dogs' accuracy rivaled or exceeded other tests, but logistical challenges exist in public screening. The potential for early cancer detection and mass COVID screening is highlighted, emphasizing the need for further research and public acceptance.

 Key Takeaways:

• Medical scent dogs began first with observation as it was noticed that many dogs indicated carcinomas in their owners.

• Longnose dogs tend to be more beneficial than others, such as a French Bulldog or those with a shorter snout, in scent detection. 

• While the initial training can take several months, dogs have a long scent memory. If you want them to train a new scent, that can take a couple of months. 

• Dogs could detect covid infection prior to symptoms or testing

"The goal is early detection, but to be efficient and really valuable for a screening test, tests need to be accurate, it needs to be easy, and it should be cost-effective too." —  Dr. MacKenzie Pellin

Episode References: 

• The use of sniffer dogs for early detection of cancer: a One Health approach: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/375576717_The_use_of_sniffer_dogs_for_early_detection_of_cancer_a_One_Health_approach 

Connect with Dr. MacKenzie Pellin:

Professional Bio: https://www.vetmed.wisc.edu/people/mackenzie-pellin/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mackenzie-pellin-962a66b6/ 

Connect with Dr. Patricia Ungar:

Website: https://www.scentsolutiondogs.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patricia-ungar-dvm-cva-10598929b/ 

Connect with Dr. Laurie Malone:

Professional Bio: https://scholars.uab.edu/4812-laurie-a-malone 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurie-malone-a9754821a/ 

Connect with Therese:

Website: www.criticallyspeaking.net

Threads: @critically_speaking

Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net

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