N14329
Equinome, the leading Irish equine genomics company, plans to open an office in the USA during 2015 and has 6 new DNA-related tests in development which it intends to launch over the coming 24 months.

The company, which is headquartered at NovaUCD, the Centre for New Ventures and Entrepreneurs and with a sales office in Australia, is also planning to double its workforce to twenty in the next twelve months.

The announcements were made at a presentation of the 2014 UCD Nova Innovation Award to company founder Emeline Hill yesterday.

Quality and Impact

“The 2014 NovaUCD Innovation Award was presented to Dr Hill in recognition of the successes she has achieve to date through the quality and impact of her research and through the impact of Equinome in the Thoroughbred industry in Ireland and internationally,” Said Professor Andrew J. Deeks, President of UCD.

“Equinome, established to commercialise world-class UCD research outputs, is an excellent example of a UCD spin-out company with global reach and sales. While only established in 2010 Equinome has already significantly changed breeding techniques in the global Thoroughbred industry which had until then remained unchanged for hundreds of years.”

CEO Donal Ryan will be one of the keynote presenters at the Business of Sports Science Conference, part of the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in Dublin on January 8th, 2015.

Winning Combination

Thoroughbred breeders have historically relied on combining successful bloodlines together, hoping that the resulting foal would contain the winning combination of genes which have contributed to the success of the bloodlines to date.

Traditionally whether those winning genes had or had not been inherited, could only be surmised by observing the racing and breeding success of the horse over a period of three to seven years after its birth.

Groundbreaking research, funded by Science Foundation Ireland, and led by Dr Hill, which resulted in the identification of what is now referred to as the ‘Speed Gene’, has fundamentally changed this approach for the global industry.

Using the Equinome Speed Gene Test racehorse owners and trainers around the world can now identify as soon as a foal is born if it is ideally suited to racing over short, middle or middle-to-long distances.

Elite Performance

Since 2010 the Enterprise Ireland supported company has launched two additional tests. The Equinome Elite Performance Test is used to identify horses with the greatest potential for racecourse success while the Equinome Projected Height Test can be used to predict the mature height of a Thoroughbred horse with a very high degree of accuracy.

“I am honoured to receive this prestigious University College Dublin award,” said Hill.

“Since its formal launch in 2010, Equinome has grown significantly and we now have customers for our genetic tests in over 15 countries across the world, and clients including 2 of the top 5 global Thoroughbred operations.”

“To date thousands of samples from past and future Champions have passed through Equinome’s laboratories at UCD on their way to the winning post and I look forward to expanding the use of genetic testing in the global Thoroughbred industry in the years ahead.”

Sports-Science-300x213To hear the Equinome story at first hand, alongside other examples from Golf, Rugby and Gaelic Games on how science is changing the way we play and watch sport, join us on January 8th for the Business of Sports Science, in partnership with the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition.  Click here to find out more and secure your place.