13 October 2015
Lil Bub is one popular cat. With more than 2 million Facebook friends and almost 900,000 followers on Instagram, the tiny feline from Indiana has received a lot of media attention. Most recently, she caught the attention of a few genomic researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin and the University of Pennsylvania. The scientists brought Lil Bub into the genomic research spotlight by crowdfunding a project to sequence her genome and learn more about her rare conditions, which include polydactyly and what appears to be osteopetrosis, a disease that hardens bones.
Using the Illumina NextSeq® 500 System, the researchers sequenced Lil Bub’s genome and hope to uncover genetic clues into Lil Bub’s rare diseases. They are documenting the process with videos in order to engage her fans and educate the general public about genomic research, all while expanding their rare disease research studies in the hopes of identifying causes of similar diseases in humans.
For more on Lil Bub and her sequencing project, click here.
