Irish Biotech Firm Developing Genetic Tests for Thoroughbred Horse Industry Wins Start-up Award

Nov. 19, 2009 - PRLog -- Equinome, a new biotech company, has won NovaUCD’s 2009 start-up award and a €5,000 prize after being named overall winner of the 14th NovaUCD Campus Company Development Programme.

Equinome, located in NovaUCD, is developing genetic tests to optimise decision-making in the breeding and racing of Thoroughbred horses. Equinome was founded earlier this year by Dr Emmeline Hill, a leading horse genomics researcher in UCD’s School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, in partnership with Mr Jim Bolger, a leading Irish race horse trainer.

The Thoroughbred horse breeding and racing industry is an international, multi-billion euro business. While over 100,000 Thoroughbred foals are registered globally each year, breeding techniques have remained relatively unchanged for hundreds of years. Breeders currently rely on combining successful bloodlines together, hoping that the resulting foal will contain the winning combination of genes which have contributed to the success of the bloodlines to date.

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

Equinome, launching commercially in early 2010, will become the first company to provide genetic tests for performance associated genes in Thoroughbred horses. Further details of Equinome’s first product will be announced to coincide with the company’s official launch.

Dr Emmeline Hill hails from a Co. Wexford family synonymous with horse racing and breeding in Ireland. She is the grand-daughter of Charmian Hill, the owner of Dawn Run, the only racehorse to have completed the Cheltenham Champion Hurdle (1984) and Gold Cup (1986) double.
She joined UCD in 2002 as a post-doctoral researcher. In 2004 she became a UCD principal investigator when she was awarded a Science Foundation Ireland President of Ireland Young Researcher Award. This award supported a five-year programme of research to investigate The genomics of performance in Thoroughbred horses, a project endorsed by the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association.

Dr Hill maintains strong industry links with horse breeding and training operations in Ireland and internationally and is a member of the International Horse Genome Mapping Group and the International Horse Genome Sequencing Consortium.  She graduated in 1995 with a BA (Genetics) from Trinity College Dublin and a PhD in Molecular Genetics in 2000.

The aim of the NovaUCD Campus Company Development Programme (CCDP) is to assist academic and research entrepreneurs in the establishment and development of new high-tech ventures to commercialise the output of their research activities. The Programme assists participants in defining, developing and transforming their innovative ideas into commercially feasible ventures and in preparing detailed business plans.

At the Awards Evening each of the fifteen ventures participating on this year’s Programme delivered a short ‘elevator pitch’. Four short-listed ventures, selected by an independent evaluation panel, then present their business plans in more detail to an audience comprising members of Ireland’s research, state agencies, venture capital, industry and business communities. An overall winner was then selected by the evaluation panel.

156 new ventures and 235 individuals have now completed the NovaUCD CCDP, which has run annually since 1996 and former participants now collectively employ 750 people. Previous participants include BiancaMed, Celtic Catalysts, ChangingWorlds, CRDS, Haptica, Locumotion and TopChem.

Dr Pat Frain, Director, NovaUCD, said, “The CCDP is designed specifically to assist entrepreneurs in establishing new high-tech and knowledge-intensive ventures, predominantly to commercialise the innovative ideas arising from UCD research programmes.”  He added, “These new ventures are of critical importance, especially in the present economic climate, where there is an increasing need to generate opportunities for the creation of highly-skilled employment.”  

Two other ventures participating on this year’s Programme, Novocept and bettieTM received runner-up awards, prizes of €3,000 and €2,000 respectively and six-months free desk space in NovaUCD.

Congratulating all the participants on this year's NovaUCD CCDP Tom Hayes, Manager,  Enterprise Ireland’s High Potential Start-Up Division, said, "Enterprise Ireland is delighted to continue to work in partnership with NovaUCD to assist in the establishment of new market-led businesses such as those which have completed this year’s CCDP and which capitalise on innovative technology.” He added, "Such companies are an essential element of realising the full commercial potential of the significant and ongoing investment in research and development being made by the Irish Government. Enterprise Ireland looks forward to supporting this year's participants in the future and to assist them to realise their full commercial potential.”

ENDS
19 November 2009

For further information contact Micéal Whelan, NovaUCD, e: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie, t: +353 1 716 3712.

# # #

NovaUCD, the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre, is the hub of knowledge transfer activities at University College Dublin. NovaUCD is responsible for the commercialisation of intellectual property arising from UCD research and for the development of co-operation with industry and business.