Ernest Bailey, PhD

Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center
Department of Veterinary Science
University of Kentucky Lexington, Kentucky 40546-0099

Immunogenetics and Genomics

We are interested in the health and welfare of horses. Immunogenetics is the study of genetic influences on the innate and adaptive immune systems which protect horses from infectious diseases. More recently, technology has made it possible to globally investigate all the genes in an individual (genomics), their expression (transcriptomics) and their impact on the cellular biology and physiology of the horse (proteomics and metabalomics). Collectively, these global research approaches have been referred to as “Genomics” after the conceptual advances initially made possible by the development of “genomics”.

Our research activities include investigations of genes that control the immune response in horses, development of a genetic map for horses, studying genetic organization through molecular and cytogenetic studies, evolution of perissodactyla, characterizing genes responsible for coat color variation and investigations on other genes that influence the health and welfare of horses (hemolytic disease of newborn foals, extreme lordosis, severe combined immunodeficiency disease, and others.)