Trained at the University of Liverpool, Matthew Breen launched a career in molecular cytogenetics in the UK and Australia, where he helped develop techniques to analyze the genomes of horses and humans. After extending his comparative genomic studies to dogs, he relocated his lab to NCSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine as part of the school’s genomics initiative in 2002. He now co-directs the clinical studies core within the NCSU Center for Comparative Medicine and Translational Research and serves on the board of the Canine Comparative Oncology and Genomics Consortium. He spends much of his time working with dog breeders who, he reports, are broadly committed to reducing the burden of genetic disease in purebred dogs by careful controlled breeding.