Research

2025 Update

The Equine Grass Sickness Fund is currently pursuing multiple avenues of research in order to find causal agents of the disease, which continues to contribute to the death of 80% of horses which are unlucky enough to contract it.

The Moredun Research Institute (MRI) continues to host the hugely important Equine Grass Sickness (EGS) Biobank. The Biobank was launched in collaboration with the British Horse Society to collect biological samples plus EGS case reports for research and analysis. Information about the biobank can be found here: https://www.grasssickness.org.uk/biobank/

MRI is also the academic home of Senior Postdoctoral Research Scientist Tanith Harte. Tanith’s focus is EGS and her current research is focused on the culture of equine gut organoids. Organoids are tiny clusters of cells which represent the original organ they were grown from (e.g. intestine, stomach). They are grown in a lab, and will (hopefully) eventually be used as a model to study EGS, narrow down causal agents and improve our knowledge of the disease. Tanith has grown control organoids from the entire equine gut, including the ileum and jejunum. These organoids originated from healthy control animals who never contracted equine grass sickness prior to the end of their lives, and died due to other causes. They will provide a baseline to represent otherwise healthy equine organs. Tanith’s control organoids have now been sent off for RNA sequencing (a process which will read part of the genetic blueprint of the organoids). Tanith’s next task is to move onto culturing organoids from EGS cases, which will prove significantly more challenging, given the damage that EGS does to the equine gut.

Brenda Moita – Surrey University PhD Student

Brenda’s PhD project receives financial support from the Equine Grass Sickness Fund. The project investigates protein biomarkers in equine biological samples to improve understanding of Equine Grass Sickness (EGS). Recently, Brenda has focused on urine samples from healthy animals to develop and test a workflow to study their protein content. The next stage in her work will be to analyse a larger set of samples to explore protein biomarkers in both healthy and affected EGS horses.

To apply for research funds please see below:

How do I apply for research funds?

The Equine Grass Sickness Fund welcomes applications for research projects. We are funded by charitable donations, raised almost entirely by the efforts of horse owners themselves. Applications with collaborative funding partners will be given priority. You are welcome to discuss your ideas with us prior to your application. Contact info@grasssickness.org.uk

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