University of Surrey vet school awarded research grant
"We are pleased to have secured this grant which recognised the excellent One Health, One Medicine work the faculty does" - Professor Paul Townsend.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club Welfare Research Foundation has awarded the University of Surrey's One Health Cardiology Research Group a grant of £180,000 to research the welfare of racehorses, and how to improve it.
Awarded to Dr Kamalan Jeevaratnam, who leads the One Health Cardiology Research Group, and Dr Rebecca Lewis, lecturer in physiology, the grant will be used to map out the entire equine cardiac ion channelome in healthy and diseased horses.
Researchers will map out the collection of proteins that govern all electrical activity of the heart using multi-omics and molecular pathology approaches This will help them to further understand sudden cardiac death in both equine and human athletes, and to identify potential molecular and anatomical targets for intervention.
Pro-vice-chancellor and executive dean of the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the university, Professor Paul Townsend, commented on the grant: “We are pleased to have secured this grant which recognises the excellent One Health, One Medicine work the faculty does specifically in non-communicable disease research.
“It also showcases the wide international collaborative networks we have nurtured over the years that has resulted in some great ideas in non-communicable disease research.”
With Strangles Awareness Week just around the corner (5-11 May), vets are being encouraged to share a survey about the disease with their horse-owning clients.
