PHBA Donates to Penn Vet Research on Racehorse Gene Doping

Gene doping involves the transfer or modification of genes or genetically modified cells of healthy athletes, human and equine, for nontherapeutic purpose to enhance athletic performance.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

As part of its ongoing commitment to maintaining integrity in the horse racing industry, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association (PHBA) has donated $300,000 to University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet) New Bolton Center’s Equine Pharmacology Laboratory to fund research to detect gene doping in equine athletes.

Gene doping involves the transfer or modification of genes or genetically modified cells of healthy human athletes, as well as equine athletes, for nontherapeutic purpose to enhance athletic performance.

The PHBA’s $300,000 donation will provide funding for Penn Vet’s multi-tiered, multi-year project which includes research on potential protein and RNA-based biomarkers that have been identified as showing promise for detecting gene doping. The project will also include continued expansion of a BioBank that will be utilized to evaluate baseline levels of these blood-based biomarkers in active and injured race horses, as well as physiological changes in their musculoskeletal structure using New Bolton Center’s robotics-controlled imaging system.

“Our members, all of whom are Pennsylvania thoroughbred horse breeders, have consistently stated that maintaining integrity in the sport of racing is one of their top priorities,” said Brian Sanfratello, PHBA executive secretary. “We are pleased to partner with New Bolton Center, an internationally renowned equine hospital and research institution to fund this ground-breaking research and help combat gene doping

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
337 votes · 337 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!