Research Highlights

Over the past century, this collective group of researchers has made numerous major breakthroughs in the field of equine health. Consider just some of these landmark contributions:

• 1930 - Work by researchers in the field of mare fertility related to breeding hygiene

  resulted in an increase in pregnancy rates from 40-65 percent to 75-85 percent over

  a five-year period.

• 1939 - The department was designated the National Salmonella Typing Center after

  becoming internationally renowned for its work in that field.

• 1947-48 - Streptococcus /zooepidemicus was identified as the most frequent bacterial

  cause of equine abortion and foal death.

• 1950s - Researchers devised much needed laboratory procedures for the study of equine

  abortion virus (equine herpesvirus-1) infections, including development of the first

  vaccine against this disease.

• 1950s - Equine viral arteritis (EVA) was defined for the first time as a specific

  disease.

• 1954 – Gluck researchers were the first to discover and report acquired resistance

  of Haemonchus contortus to phenothiazine in sheep. This is believed to be the first

  record of a parasitic species in either humans or animals developing resistance

  to a drug.

• 1960s - Development of the first multivalent vaccine against equine influenza, a

  viral respiratory disease which affects a large percentage of the horse population

  each year.

• 1966 - Research began on the mare’s response to extended (artificial) light in controlling

  her reproductive cycle. This discovery changed forever the struggle to get mares

  in foal earlier in the year.

• 1969 - Vaccine for Streptococcus equi (strangles) was developed and became commercially

  available.

• 1984- An epidemic of equine viral arteritis (EVA) enabled researchers for the first

  time to confirm existence of the "carrier" state in stallions. This knowledge has

  been pivotal in devising effective strategies for controlling the spread of EVA.

• 1993 - The Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center was designated by the Office

  International des Epizooties (World Organization for Animal Health) as a World Reference

  Center for three significant equine viral diseases:

  - Equine rhinopneumonitis

  - Equine influenza

  - Equine viral arteritis

• 1994 – Development of the first test for the diagnosis of horses affected with equine

  protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM), a parasitic neurological disease occurring in

  horses in the Western Hemisphere.

• 1999 - Involvement of Gluck Center researchers in the development of Flu-Avert™,

  a highly successful intranasal vaccine for equine subtype 2 influenza virus. The

  modified-live virus vaccine was licensed by the USDA in 1999. In addition, work

  on maternal influenza and equine herpesvirus 1 antibody interference by researchers

  in the department led to new recommendations for foal vaccination protocols by the

  American Association of Equine Practitioners.

• 2001 - Further research into EPM spawned the development of the first FDA-approved

  medication available for treating the disease.

• 2001 - A group of Gluck Center scientists, in collaboration with other UK College

  of Agriculture researchers, helped determine the cause of the early fetal losses,

  late-term abortions and other problems that occurred in association with Mare Reproductive

  Loss Syndrome (MRLS).

• 2005 –Gluck Center researcher initiates and is the first author of a "white paper"

  that leads to full genome sequencing of the horse by the National Human Genome Research

  Institute.