University of Minnesota Equine Genetics and Genomics Laboratory

04/16/2025

We are still looking for horses with PPID being treated with pergolide for an important ongoing genetics study. Check out this press release to learn more about the project, our goals and how to enroll your horses! 🐴

Calling all horse owners! Researchers at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine are launching a major study to better understand Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction (PPID) in aging horses. They're seeking equine participants to advance early diagnosis and treatment. Learn more: https://z.umn.edu/ad8b

04/10/2025

✨🧬 Multiple lab members recently attended the Advances in Genome Biology and Technology (AGBT) annual agriculture meeting in Orlando, Florida. This conference focuses on showcasing exciting research across agricultural genomics and networking with other scientists and students. Our students presented ground breaking research in the horse and learned about lots of new cutting edge genomic technologies being used across multiple animal species.

04/09/2025

⁉ Did you know that up to 30% of aged horses may be diagnosed with Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction (PPID, also known as equine Cushing’s) in their lifetime? This disease brings many challenges with senior horse care to both horse owners and veterinarians. Researchers at the University of Minnesota and University of Florida are motivated to better understand this disease through investigating the genetics associated with PPID risk and pergolide response in horses.

🐴If you have a horse being treated for PPID we could use your help! In order to properly answer the genetic questions surrounding disease risk and drug response, we are continuing to enroll horses with PPID (diagnosed by a veterinarian) that are being treated with pergolide.

💻Please check out our website to learn how you can enroll in this study and help us to help the horses you love! We are excited about this project and its potential impact to improve quality of life in many senior horses.

04/01/2025

Multiple members of the lab were able to attend the University of Minnesota's annual Speaking Science conference recently. This wonderful event features scientists and communication experts across many disciplines of the University coming together to discuss how to broaden the impacts of research through communication.

✨The keynote speakers Dr. Tseganesh Selameab and Dr. Ben Trappey shared their knowledge and experience of using the power of storytelling in health advocacy.

💬 Multiple breakout sessions included the use of social media and digital accesibility in communicating science, how to communicate with community based research, collaborations across art and science, and speaking to industry and funding audiences.

🔬Lab members are excited to utilize the important information they learned here to help improve the ways we communicate science across our projects.

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