Joan R. Coates, DVM, MS

University of Missouri – Columbia (MU)

I am a board-certified veterinary neurologist with neurosurgical expertise. My research focus for many years as primary investigator has been on canine degenerative myelopathy (DM) associated with a SOD1 mutation, which was discovered by our group. Homogeneity of phenotype and ability to study the disease at early and latter disease stages provide a unique opportunity to gain further insight into underlying disease mechanisms of ALS and monitoring of dogs for therapeutic approaches. I have guided investigations of clinically applicable biomarkers that may facilitate prospective studies of canine DM as a disease model on which therapeutic approaches can be evaluated for patients with ALS.