Precision Medicine - The Next Frontier

  • by Amy Young
Image of horse trotting in hand
Horses undergo lameness exams as part of the Pioneer 100 Horse Project.

Thanks to advanced molecular tools, researchers are now able to understand the equine genome on a deeper level than ever before. In the future, genetic data and advanced diagnostics could be used to tailor medical treatments to an individual horse’s genetics, its environment, and the interactions between the two. The goal is to be able to evaluate, for example, how a particular patient is likely to respond to one drug versus another, making it possible to target treatments for the most successful outcomes.

Dr. Callum Donnelly, a PhD student in Dr. Finno’s laboratory, is excited to be partnering with CEH and Platinum Performance on the “Pioneer 100 Horse Project”, a first-of-its-kind precision medicine study in horses. This project is gathering a variety of medical and genetic data on 100 CEH teaching herd horses to lay the groundwork for precision medicine approaches in multiple fields.