University College Dublin

Professor Grainne O'Kane was appointed the inaugural Pat Smullen Chair in Pancreatic Cancer at University College Dublin, Cancer Trials Ireland announced on Friday. The new position will anchor expertise in pancreatic research in Ireland, with the ambition of creating a global centre of excellence for the treatment and research of this form of cancer. The role will allow O'Kane to divide her time between clinical work as a treating physician at St Vincent's University Hospital and research work at UCD School of Medicine, where she will work to identify, attract,...

Sean Berns, Sarah Pepper and Larry Mulvany are the recipients of the Gerry Dilger Equine Foundation Kentucky Experience scholarship, which places the winners on Kentucky farms for a period of one year beginning in January 2024. Like the late and beloved Dilger, Berns graduated from the prestigious Irish National Stud and will be placed in Kentucky at Springhouse Farm. Though not originally from a horse background, Berns has studied equine business at Maynooth College and has worked at Derrinstown Stud and Coolmore in Ireland and at Newgate Stud in Australia....

Edited Press Release Scientists at University College Dublin and Plusvital Ltd. in Ireland have published a study describing the discovery of genes in racehorses that are associated with stress and coping in the training environment. The research, which is titled "Integrative genomics analysis highlights functionally relevant genes for equine behaviour," appears in the peer-reviewed journal Animal Genetics and is the result of a four-year PhD research project that examined the stress hormone cortisol and the results of a questionnaire in 100 yearlings as they encountered key milestone events during the...

Inbreeding in the Thoroughbred has increased significantly in the last 45 years according to a research paper published in Scientific Reports, the Racing Post reported on Saturday. Professor Emmeline Hill, a co-author on the report, spearheaded the research conducted by University College Dublin and equine science company Plusvital. The DNA of over 10,000 Thoroughbreds was analyzed, with the result a marked increase of inbreeding within the population, as favourable racing traits were selected, as well as more popular sire lines. Ninety-seven percent of the horses in the study traced to...