University of Minnesota Equine Genetics and Genomics Laboratory

02/28/2025

Drs McCue & Hughes were recently invited to attend the Data Science Initiative (DSI) Seed Grant Showcase to learn about lots of exciting projects currently occuring across disciplines at the University of Minnesota. They were also awarded a 2025 DSI Data Set Grant and are excited for this funding opportunity to allow for generation of a catalog of epigenetic variation in the horse. Epigenetics is an exciting emerging area of research focused on characterizing the modifications that can occur to DNA that alter how genes are expressed. 🧬🐴🧬

02/26/2025

The Disappearing Doberman Project is still enrolling dogs for our study! One of the main diseases we are researching is Hypothyroidism in the Doberman Pinscher. Hypothyroidism is when a dog has insufficient levels of thyroid hormone due to an underactive thyroid gland. Dobermans are 17 times more likely to develop hypothyroidism in their lifetime compared to other similar dog breeds. Read more about this disease below.

If you want to learn more about the project and how to enroll, go to https://z.umn.edu/DisappearingDobermanProject

02/21/2025

The Disappearing Doberman Project is still enrolling dogs for our study! One of the main diseases we are researching is Cervical Vertebral Instability (CVI), or 'Wobblers' in the Doberman Pinscher. Dogs with CVI display with “ataxic” or wobbly gait, which worsens with time. This is caused by compression of the spinal cord either because the vertebral canal is too narrow or because of a bulging disk between the vertebrae. Read more about this disease below.

If you want to learn more about the project and how to enroll, go to https://z.umn.edu/DisappearingDobermanProject

02/17/2025

Jillian Marlowe represented the EGGL team at the International Plant and Animal Genome Conference with an exciting poster summarizing her research comparing commonly used annotation programs in equine research. Annotation is an important step in processing genomic data in which programs identify the location, type of variant (or mutation) and generate a prediction of a variant's impact. Many of these programs are designed for human data and exploration studies like Jillian's about their performance in equine data are critical to advancing our knowledge and ability to accurarely and efficicently process our data. 🙌

02/14/2025

You or someone you know needs an assistance dog… but where do you start?

There are many organizations out there that train all kinds of assistance dogs and it is hard to determine if an organization fits the needs that you or someone has.

Assistance Dogs International (ADI) is an accrediting body for assistance dog organizations and holds organizations to high quality and ethical standards for both their dogs and their clients. On their website, they outline their standards, accreditation process, and the organizations that are accredited through them.

By doing a simple search, it is easy to find organizations that have high-quality, well trained dogs and staff members that can fit the needs of their clients.

Visit https://assistancedogsinternational.org for more information!

02/12/2025

Hayden Hamsher, a current PhD student, presenting his research around the creation of a tool that can be used by researchers to investigate and interact with large whole genome data sets. EGGL has a long history of generating genomic tools and pipelines that aid researchers in accurately and efficiently processing the large amount of genomic data generated from sequencing. Did you know that a horse has almost 3 billion base pairs in their DNA sequence?! 🧬

Congratulations Hayden on an engaging and exciting presentation. This tool will be very valuable across the equine genetics community! 🐴

02/10/2025

The Disappearing Doberman Project is still enrolling dogs for our study! One of the main diseases we are researching is Dilated Cardiomyopathy in the Doberman Pinscher. As many as 58% of Dobermans will develop DCM in their lifetime. Cardiomyopathy can present in different ways: one is characterized by the enlargement of the ventricles of the heart, weakening the walls of the heart muscle causing impaired contraction of the heart’s ventricles. Other dogs present with arrhythmias (i.e., irregular heartbeats) including ventricular premature contractions (VPCs) with little to no evidence of heart dilation. Read more about DCM and how the four identified genes play a role in disease devolpment below.

If you want to learn more about the project and how to enroll, go to https://z.umn.edu/DisappearingDobermanProject

02/07/2025

The Disappearing Doberman Project is still enrolling dogs for our study! One of the main diseases we are researching is Hepatitis, or liver disease, in the Doberman Pinscher. Hepatitis affects up to twenty percent of Dobermans during their lifetime, but can often be managed through diet and medications if caught early on in the disease process. Read more about this disease below.

If you want to learn more about the project and how to enroll, go to https://z.umn.edu/DisappearingDobermanProject

02/05/2025

With over 30% of senior horses affected by Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction (PPID), can you identify the clinical signs associated with the disease?!

We are currently investigating the genetic component contributing to pergolide response in the treatment of horses with PPID. Please consider learning more about our ongoing genetics study at the link below and enrolling if your horse fits enrollment criteria. Help us help the horses you love!

https://z.umn.edu/pergolidestudy

02/03/2025

Dr. Jonah Cullen, a postdoctoral researcher in the EGGL, presented exciting updates to the ongoing equine pangenome effort at the International Plant and Animal Genome Workshop. A group of researchers at multiple universities is working hard to generate the FIRST equine pangenome. This pangenome aims to capture shared and unique genetic information across a group of horses representing many breeds. It will aid researchers around the globe studying a variety of equine genetic conditions and help capture currently missing equine genetic information from our available reference genomes. The future is bright with this team leading the way!! 🤩

Part of this incredible pangenome team is pictured including (L to R) Sam Stroupe from Texas A & M University, Jonah Cullen from University of Minnesota and Ted Kalbfleisch from University of Kentucky. 🧬🐎🧬

01/29/2025

Dr. Sian Durward-Akhurst recently presented exciting research around the genetics associated with atrial fibrillation in Standardbred racehorses at the Equine Workshop at the International Plant and Animal Genome Conference in sunny San Diego ☀! These studies aim to better understand the genetic association with atrial fibrillation with the goal of working towards screening and monitoring programs for racehorses! 🐎❤

🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌

01/29/2025

We are delighted to share our latest publication: a review article on Myosin Heavy Chain Myopathy and other immune mediated muscle diseases in horses. If you’d like to read the article, please click this link for free access until March 19, 2025.

Myosin Heavy Chain Myopathy was previously known as Immune Mediated Myositis. It is an inherited muscle disorder that can lead to painful and severe muscle wasting in affected horses. There are several forms of Myosin Heavy Chain Myopathy that are described in this article.

Let us know if you have any questions!

Veterinary Clinics of North America: Equine PracticeAvailable online 28 January 2025In Press, Corrected ProofWhat’s this?Myosin Heavy Chain Myopathy and Immune-Mediated Muscular DisordersAuthor links open overlay panelSian A. Durward-Akhurst BVMS, MS, PhD, MRCVS a, Stephanie J. Valberg DVM, PhD bS...

01/27/2025

Did you know that up to 30% of horses above the age of 15 will be diagnosed with Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction (PPID, formerly known as equine cushing's syndrome) in their lifetime? We are currently investigating the underlying genetics associated with PPID in horses as well as genetic factors involved in treatment response to pergolide, the drug most commonly used to treat affected horses.

Please consider learning more about our study and enrolling your horse if they meet enrollment criteria. We need your help to be able to answer important questions regarding PPID disease risk and treatment response affecting many of our beloved equine seniors!

https://z.umn.edu/pergolidestudy

01/10/2025

Do you have a horse that has been diagnosed with PPID?

We could use your help as we continue to ENROLL additional PPID horses that are being treated with pergolide for an ongoing genetic risk study. Enjoy this video that summarizes the project and consider enrolling your horse to help us answer these very important questions regarding PPID disease risk.

Visit our website to learn more about participation requirements and steps to enroll:

https://z.umn.edu/pergolidestudy

12/22/2024

With the time away from work and school this holiday season, please take a moment to enroll your Doberman in the Disappearing Dobermans Project. In case you missed it, we are embarking on an unprecedented effort to change the health of our dogs and our breed, for the better. Sadly, in a study of over 5,000 dogs, from more than 179 breeds, the Doberman had the shortest average lifespan. This heartbreaking statistic is our call to action, please join our effort!

Enrolling your dog is easy and will make a huge impact on the future of the Doberman breed. We cannot do this alone, dedicated owners, breeders, and donors are critical to our success. Please go to https://z.umn.edu/DDPSurveyChecklist to view our checklist of information to gather before enrolling. When you're ready, fill out the survey at the following link: https://z.umn.edu/DisappearingDobermanProject

12/19/2024

This holiday season we are thankful for our healthy Dobermans, but we know far too many friends who will be spending the holidays without their precious dogs this year. The Disappearing Doberman Project is hoping to make more holiday seasons for Dobermans, but we need your help. We are still accepting dogs to be enrolled in both the lifetime study and the early impact study. https://z.umn.edu/DisappearingDobermanProject

We are also accepting donations to the project; all donations are tax deductible! Please visit https://z.umn.edu/DisappearingDobe for more information.

12/13/2024

We are very proud to announce that one of our Master's students, Joy Stock, just succesfully defended her thesis! This is the culmination of so many years of hard work and dedication. Joy's thesis was titled "Genetic Exploration of Exercise Associated Sudden Death in Racehorses" and she is planning to attend veterinary school as the next step in her career.

We are so proud of you Joy!🙌

12/12/2024

Here at EGGL you have probably noticed an increase in research including our favorite companions-dogs! There are many reasons why researching canine genetics is important. For one, we love our dogs and we want them to be happy and healthy. Understanding the genetics underlying their health and wellness can help us keep them healthy or treat them when they get sick. Dogs are also an important model organism. They have very similar diseases to humans that occur naturally and they live in the exact same environments that we do. In some cases this makes them a more important model organism than many lab animals!

This post features a photo of one of our amazing canine resarchers, PhD candidate Emma Hilby, that is working on multiple projects related to service dog genetics.

🐾