For the title of best animal models, lab rats may be facing some competition from man's best friends: dogs.Canines and humans get many of the same diseases, and often respond to the same drug treatments. Dogs also tend to mimic the symptoms and pathology of human disease much more closely than rodents do."Understanding the underlying genetics in dogs is almost certain to enlighten us about the human condition," notes Elaine Ostrander, chief of the Cancer Genetics Branch at the National Human Genome Research Institute.Read more at...SFARI, February 2010.