Finno Laboratory

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Finno Laboratory

Contact the Finno Laboratory

Carrie FinnoInterested in supporting equine research by sending us samples of your horse? Make sure to contact Welsey Leigh beforehand for specifications.

Contact our lab if you are further interested in our on-going research projects.

Dr. Carrie Finno / VM:PHR
1284 Veterinary Medicine Drive
Vet Med 3A, Rm #4206
Davis, CA 95616
+1 530 752 0915

Welsey Leigh
Lab Manager
University of California - Davis

waleigh@ucdavis.edu

Finno Laboratory

Equine Genetics

Our laboratory investigates the molecular basis for genetic diseases in the horse and other companion animals.

 

Vitamin E-associated Neurodegeneration

One of the translational focuses of the laboratory is to investigate the role of vitamin E in neurodegeneration using a well-established mouse model and a naturally-occurring model of neuroaxonal dystrophy in the horse.
 
Dr. Carrie Finno received her veterinary degree from the University of Minnesota. Following graduation, she completed a one-year internship in Large Animal Medicine and Surgery at Minnesota, before coming to UC Davis to complete a three-year residency in Large Animal Medicine and Surgery. Dr. Finno went on to complete a PhD in Comparative Pathology at UC Davis, and then returned to Minnesota to join their faculty as an Assistant Professor. After two years on their faculty, she once again returned to UC Davis as a faculty member in genetics and a clinical role with the Equine Medicine Service. Dr. Finno's research is focused on companion animal genetics, particularly the genetic and environmental risk factors associated with equine neuromuscular diseases.

Awards

2022 Chancellor’s Fellow
2021 Zoetis Excellence in Research Award
2012 James M. Wilson Award, Center for Equine Health, UC Davis
2011 Merial/NIH National Veterinary Scholars Symposium Young Investigator Award, 2nd place
2010-2011 Ann Bowling Scholarship for Equine Genetics
2010 American Association of Equine Practitioners Young Investigator Award
2009 California Thoroughbred Foundation Louis R. Rowan Fellowship
2007 House Office Seminar Day Award, Large Animal Research Study
2004 Dr. Colin Krog Class of 1978 Memorial Scholarship
2003 Joseph E. Salsbury Veterinary Medical Scholarship
2003 Points of Pride Research Day Poster Award
2002 Minnesota Horse Council Scholarship

Professional Societies

2008 American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine
2001 American Association of Equine Practitioners

CBS Grad Group Affiliations

Integrated Genetics and Genomics
Animal Biology

Graduate Groups not Housed in CBS

Integrative Pathobiology (Vet Med)

Publications

  1. Firshman AM, Valberg SJ, Bender JB, Finno CJ. Epidemiologic characteristics and management of polysaccharide storage myopathy in Quarter horses. Am J Vet Res 2003;64(10):1319-27.
  2. McKenzie EC, Valberg SJ, Godden SM, Finno CJ, Murphy MJ. Effect of oral administration of dantrolene sodium on serum creatine kinase activity after exercise in horses with recurrent exertional rhabdomyolysis. Am J Vet Res 2004;65(1):74-9.
  3. Finno CJ, Pusterla N, Aleman M, Mohr FC, Price T, George J, Holmberg T. Streptococcus equi meningioencephalomyelitis in a foal. J Am Vet Med Assoc 2006;229(5):721-4.
  4. Finno CJ, Valberg SJ, Wunschmann A, Murphy MJ. Seasonal pasture myopathy in the Midwestern United States: 14 cases (1998-2005). J Am Vet Med Assoc 2006;229(7): 1134-41
  5. Finno CJ, Packham AE, Wilson D, Gardner IA, Conrad PA, Pusterla N. Effects of blood contamination of cerebrospinal fluid on results of indirect fluorescent antibody tests for detection of antibodies against Sarcocystis neurona and Neospora hughesi. J Vet Diagn Invest 2007;19(3):286-9.
  6. Finno C, Pusterla N, Aleman M. Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis associated with Neosporosis in 3 horses. J Vet Int Med 2007; 21(6):1405-1408
  7. Finno CJ, Spier SJ. Prevention and treatment of equine atypical myopathy. Vet J 2008;178(2):163-4.
  8. Pusterla N, Wilson WD, Mapes S, Finno CJ, Isbell D, Arthur RM, Ferraro GL. Characterization of viral loads, strain and state of equine herpesvirus-1 using real-time PCR in horses following natural exposure at a racetrack in California. Vet J 2009;179(2): 230-9.
  9. Finno CJ, Spier SJ, Valberg SJ. Equine diseases caused by known genetic mutations. Vet J 2009;179(3):336-47.
  10. Finno CJ, Eaton JS, Aleman M, Hollingsworth SR. Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis due to Neospora hughesi and Equine Motor Neuron Disease in a mule. Vet Ophtho 2010;13(4):259-265
  11. Overmann JA, Finno C, Sharkey LC. What is your diagnosis? Elevated bicarbonate concentration in a foal. Vet Clin Path 2010;39(4):515-516.
  12. Finno CJ, McKenzie E, Valberg SJ, Pagan J. Effect of fitness on glucose, insulin and cortisol responses to diets varying in starch and fat content in Thoroughbred horses with recurrent exertional rhabdomyolysis. Equine Vet J 2010 42(Suppl 38):323-8.
  13. Pusterla N, Conrad PA, Packham AE, Mapes SM, Finno CJ, Gardner IA, Barr BC, Ferraro GL, Wilson WD. Endogenous transplacental Neosporosis in broodmares originating from a California farm with high prevalence of antibodies to Neospora hughesi. J Parasitol 97(2);2011:281-285.
  14. Aleman M, Finno CJ, Higgins R, Puschner B, Gericota B, Gohil K, LeCouteur RA, Madigan JE. Evaluation of epidemiological, clinical, and pathological features of neuroaxonal dystrophy in Quarter Horses; J of Vet Med Assoc 2011;239(6):823-833.
  15. Finno CJ, Higgins R, Aleman M, Ofri R, Hollingsworth S, Bannasch DL, Riley C, Madigan JE. Equine Degenerative Myeloencephalopathy in Lusitano horses. J Vet Inter Med 2011 Nov- Dec;25(6):1439-46.
  16. Finno CJ, Aleman M, Ofri R, Hollingsworth S, Madigan JE, Winfield L, Bannasch DL. Electrophysiological Studies in American Quarter horses with Neuroaxonal Dystrophy. Vet Ophtho 2012;15(Suppl2):3-7
  17. Finno CJ, Valberg SJ. A comparative review of vitamin E and associated equine disorders. J Vet Intern Med 2012;26(6):1251-66
  18. Finno CJ, Famula T, Aleman M, Higgins RJ, Madigan JE, Bannasch DB. Pedigree analysis and exclusion of -tocopherol transfer protein as a candidate gene for neuroaxonal dystrophy in the American Quarter horse. J Vet Intern Med 2013;27(1):177-85
  19. Safra N, Johnson EG, Lit L, Foreman O, Wolf ZT, Aguilar M, Karmi N, Finno CJ, Bannasch DL. Clinical presentation, response to treatment and outcome in Weimaraner dogs diagnosed with Hypertrophic Osteodystrophy: 53 cases (2009-2011). J Am Vet Med Assoc 2013;242(9):1260-6.
  20. Draper, A and Finno CJ. Cervical Spondylosis Deformans in Two Quarter Horses. Equine Vet Educ 2016; 28(5):248-251.
  21. Finno CJ, Bannasch DL. Applied equine genetics. Equine Vet J. 2014 Sep;46(5):538-44. doi: 10.1111/evj.12294. Epub 2014 Jun 25. Erratum in: Equine Vet J. 2015 Jul;47(4):502.
  22. Finno CJ, Aleman M, Higgins RJ, Madigan JE, Bannasch DL. Risk of false positive genetic associations in complex traits with underlying population structure: a case study. Vet J. 2014;202(3):543-9.
  23. Finno CJ, Stevens C, Young A, Affolter V, Joshi NA, Ramsay S, Bannasch DL. SERPINB11 frameshift variant associated with novel hoof specific phenotype in Connemara ponies. PLoS Genet. 2015;11(4):e1005122.
  24. Tuggle CK, Giuffra E, White SN, Clarke L, Zhou H, Ross PJ, Acloque H, Reecy JM, Archibald A, Bellone RR, Boichard M, Chamberlain A, Cheng H, Crooijmans RP, Delany ME, Finno CJ, Groenen MA, Hayes B, Lunney JK, Petersen JL, Plastow GS, Schmidt CJ, Song J, Watson M. GO-FAANG meeting: a Gathering On Functional Annotation of Animal Genomes. Anim Genet. 2016;47(5):528-33.
  25. Finno CJ, Bordbari MH, Valberg SJ, Lee D, Herron J, Hines K, Monsour T, Scott E, Bannasch DL, Mickelson J, Xu L. Transcriptome profiling of equine vitamin E deficient neuroaxonal dystrophy identifies upregulation of liver X receptor target genes. Free Radic Biol Med. 2016;101:261-271.
  26. Finno CJ, Kaese HJ, Miller AD, Gianino G, Divers T, Valberg SJ. Pigment retinopathy in warmblood horses with equine degenerative myeloencephalopathy and equine motor neuron disease. Vet Ophthalmol. 2017;20(4):304-309.
  27. Schaefer RJ, Schubert M, Bailey E, Bannasch DL, Barrey E, Bar-Gal GK, Brem G, Brooks SA, Distl O, Fries R, Finno CJ, Gerber V, Haase B, Jagannathan V, Kalbfleisch T, Leeb T, Lindgren G, Lopes MS, Mach N, da Câmara Machado A, MacLeod JN, McCoy A, Metzger J, Penedo C, Polani S, Rieder S, Tammen I, Tetens J, Thaller G, Verini-Supplizi A, Wade CM, Wallner B, Orlando L, Mickelson JR, McCue ME. Developing a 670k genotyping array to tag ~2M SNPs across 24 horse breeds. BMC Genomics. 2017;18(1):565.
  28. Scott EY, Woolard KD, Finno CJ, Murray JD. Cerebellar Abiotrophy Across Domestic Species. Cerebellum. 2018;17(3):372-379.
  29. Finno CJ, Gianino G, Perumbakkam S, Williams ZJ, Bordbari MH, Gardner KL, Burns E, Peng S, Durward-Akhurst SA, Valberg SJ. A missense mutation in MYH1 is associated with susceptibility to immune-mediated myositis in Quarter Horses. Skelet Muscle. 2018;8(1):7.
  30. Finno CJ, Bordbari MH, Gianino G, Ming-Whitfield B, Burns E, Merkel J, Britton M, Durbin-Johnson B, Sloma EA, McMackin M, Cortopassi G, Rivas V, Barro M, Tran CK, Gennity I, Habib H, Xu L, Puschner B, Miller AD. An innate immune response and altered nuclear receptor activation defines the spinal cord transcriptome during alpha-tocopherol deficiency in Ttpa-null mice. Free Radic Biol Med. 2018;120:289-302.
  31. Zavodovskaya R, Stover SM, Murphy BG, Katzman S, Durbin-Johnson B, Britton M, Finno CJ. Bone formation transcripts dominate the differential gene expression profile in an equine osteoporotic condition associated with pulmonary silicosis. PLoS One. 2018;13(6):e0197459.
  32. Lucot KL, Dickinson PJ, Finno CJ, Mansour TA, Letko A, Minor KM, Mickelson JR, Drögemüller C, Brown CT, Bannasch DL. A Missense Mutation in the Vacuolar Protein Sorting 11 (VPS11) Gene Is Associated with Neuroaxonal Dystrophy in Rottweiler Dogs. G3 (Bethesda). 2018;8(8):2773-2780.
  33. Valberg SJ, Henry ML, Perumbakkam S, Gardner KL, Finno CJ. An E321G MYH1 mutation is strongly associated with nonexertional rhabdomyolysis in Quarter Horses. J Vet Intern Med. 2018;32(5):1718-1725.
  34. Finno CJ, Estell KE, Winfield L, Katzman S, Bordbari MH, Burns EN, Miller AD, Puschner B, Tran CK, Xu L. Lipid peroxidation biomarkers for evaluating oxidative stress in equine neuroaxonal dystrophy. J Vet Intern Med. 2018;32(5):1740-1747.
  35. Burns EN, Finno CJ. Equine degenerative myeloencephalopathy: prevalence, impact, and management. Vet Med (Auckl). 2018;9:63-67.
  36. Estell K, Spriet M, Phillips KL, Aleman M, Finno CJ. Current dorsal myelographic column and dural diameter reduction rules do not apply at the cervicothoracic junction in horses. Vet Radiol Ultrasound. 2018;59(6):662-666.
  37. Kalbfleisch TS, Rice ES, DePriest MS Jr, Walenz BP, Hestand MS, Vermeesch JR, O Connell BL, Fiddes IT, Vershinina AO, Saremi NF, Petersen JL, Finno CJ, Bellone RR, McCue ME, Brooks SA, Bailey E, Orlando L, Green RE, Miller DC, Antczak DF, MacLeod JN. Improved reference genome for the domestic horse increases assembly contiguity and composition. Commun Biol. 2018;1:197.
  38. Valberg SJ, Perumbakkam S, McKenzie EC, Finno CJ. Proteome and transcriptome profiling of equine myofibrillar myopathy identifies diminished peroxiredoxin 6 and altered cysteine metabolic pathways. Physiol Genomics. 2018;50(12):1036-1050.
  39. Gianino GM, Valberg SJ, Perumbakkam S, Henry ML, Gardner K, Penedo C, Finno CJ. Prevalence of the E321G MYH1 variant for immune-mediated myositis and nonexertional rhabdomyolysis in performance subgroups of American Quarter Horses. J Vet Intern Med. 2019;33(2):897-901.
  40. Valberg SJ, Soave K, Williams ZJ, Perumbakkam S, Schott M, Finno CJ, Petersen JL, Fenger C, Autry JM, Thomas DD. Coding sequences of sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase regulatory peptides and expression of calcium regulatory genes in recurrent exertional rhabdomyolysis. J Vet Intern Med. 2019;33(2):933-941.
  41. Marquardt SA, Wilcox CV, Burns EN, Peterson JA, Finno CJ. Previously Identified Genetic Variants in ADGRL3 Are not Associated with Risk for Equine Degenerative Myeloencephalopathy across Breeds. Genes (Basel). 2019;10(9):681.
  42. Rivas VN, Aleman M, Peterson JA, Dahlgren AR, Hales EN, Finno CJ. TRIM39-RPP21 Variants (∆19InsCCC) Are Not Associated with Juvenile Idiopathic Epilepsy in Egyptian Arabian Horses. Genes (Basel). 2019;10(10):816.
  43. Bookbinder L, Finno CJ, Firshman AM, Katzman SA, Burns E, Peterson J, Dahlgren A, Ming-Whitfield B, Glessner S, Borer-Matsui A, Valberg SJ. Impact of alpha-tocopherol deficiency and supplementation on sacrocaudalis and gluteal muscle fiber histopathology and morphology in horses. J Vet Intern Med. 2019;33(6):2770-2779.
  44. Finno CJ, Peterson J, Kang M, Park S, Bordbari MH, Durbin-Johnson B, Settles M, Perez-Flores MC, Lee JH, Yamoah EN. Single-Cell RNA-seq Reveals Profound Alterations in Mechanosensitive Dorsal Root Ganglion Neurons with Vitamin E Deficiency. iScience. 2019;21:720-735.
  45. Kingsley NB, Kern C, Creppe C, Hales EN, Zhou H, Kalbfleisch TS, MacLeod JN, Petersen JL, Finno CJ, Bellone RR. Functionally Annotating Regulatory Elements in the Equine Genome Using Histone Mark ChIP-Seq. Genes (Basel). 2019;11(1):3.
  46. Hales EN, Esparza C, Peng S, Dahlgren AR, Peterson JM, Miller AD, Finno CJ. Genome-Wide Association Study and Subsequent Exclusion of ATCAY as a Candidate Gene Involved in Equine Neuroaxonal Dystrophy Using Two Animal Models. Genes (Basel). 2020;11(1):82.
  47. Valberg SJ, Borer Matsui AK, Firshman AM, Bookbinder L, Katzman SA, Finno CJ. 3 Dimensional photonic scans for measuring body volume and muscle mass in the standing horse. PLoS One. 2020;15(2):e0229656.
  48. Finno CJ. Veterinary Pet Supplements and Nutraceuticals. Nutr Today. 2020;55(2):97-101.
  49. Finno CJ. Equine Genetic Diseases. Vet Clin North Am Equine Pract. 2020;36(2):xiii.
  50. Dahlgren AR, Scott EY, Mansour T, Hales EN, Ross PJ, Kalbfleisch TS, MacLeod JN, Petersen JL, Bellone RR, Finno CJ. Comparison of Poly-A+ Selection and rRNA Depletion in Detection of lncRNA in Two Equine Tissues Using RNA-seq. Noncoding RNA. 2020;6(3):32.
  51. Edwards L, Finno CJ. Genetics of Equine Neurologic Disease. Vet Clin North Am Equine Pract. 2020;36(2):255-272.
  52. Gretler SR, Finno CJ, McKemie DS, Kass PH, Knych HK. Metabolism, pharmacokinetics and selected pharmacodynamic effects of codeine following a single oral administration to horses. Vet Anaesth Analg. 2020;47(5):694-704
  53. Rivas VN, Magdesian KG, Fagan S, Slovis NM, Luethy D, Javsicas LH, Caserto BG, Miller AD, Dahlgren AR, Peterson J, Hales EN, Peng S, Watson KD, Khokha MK, Finno CJ. A nonsense variant in Rap Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factor 5 (RAPGEF5) is associated with equine familial isolated hypoparathyroidism in Thoroughbred foals. PLoS Genet. 2020;16(9):e1009028.
  54. Autry JM, Karim CB, Perumbakkam S, Finno CJ, McKenzie EC, Thomas DD, Valberg SJ. Sarcolipin Exhibits Abundant RNA Transcription and Minimal Protein Expression in Horse Gluteal Muscle. Vet Sci. 2020;7(4):178.
  55. Dahlgren AR, Tablin F, Finno CJ. Genetics of equine bleeding disorders. Equine Vet J. 2021;53(1):30-37.
  56. Knych HK, Finno CJ, Baden R, Arthur RM, McKemie DS. Identification and characterization of the enzymes responsible for the metabolism of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, flunixin meglumine and phenylbutazone, in horses. J Vet Pharmacol Ther. 2021;44(1):36-46.
  57. Williams ZJ, Velez-Irizarry D, Petersen JL, Ochala J, Finno CJ, Valberg SJ. Candidate gene expression and coding sequence variants in Warmblood horses with myofibrillar myopathy. Equine Vet J. 2021;53(2):306-315.
  58. Donnelly CG, Bellone RR, Hales EN, Nguyen A, Katzman SA, Dujovne GA, Knickelbein KE, Avila F, Kalbfleisch TS, Giulotto E, Kingsley NB, Tanaka J, Esdaile E, Peng S, Dahlgren A, Fuller A, Mienaltowski MJ, Raudsepp T, Affolter VK, Petersen JL, Finno CJ. Generation of a Biobank From Two Adult Thoroughbred Stallions for the Functional Annotation of Animal Genomes Initiative. Front Genet. 2021;12:650305.
  59. Kingsley NB, Hamilton NA, Lindgren G, Orlando L, Bailey E, Brooks S, McCue M, Kalbfleisch TS, MacLeod JN, Petersen JL, Finno CJ, Bellone RR. "Adopt-a-Tissue" Initiative Advances Efforts to Identify Tissue-Specific Histone Marks in the Mare. Front Genet. 2021;12:649959.
  60. Richards N, Nielsen BD, Finno CJ. Nutritional and Non-nutritional Aspects of Forage. Vet Clin North Am Equine Pract. 2021;37(1):43-61.
  61. Habib H, Finno CJ, Gennity I, Favro G, Hales E, Puschner B, Moeller BC. Simultaneous quantification of vitamin E and vitamin E metabolites in equine plasma and serum using LC-MS/MS. J Vet Diagn Invest. 2021;33(3):506-515.
  62. Favro G, Habib H, Gennity I, Puschner B, Hales EN, Finno CJ, Moeller BC. Determination of vitamin E and its metabolites in equine urine using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Drug Test Anal. 2021;13(6):1158-1168.
  63. Valberg SJ, Finno CJ, Henry ML, Schott M, Velez-Irizarry D, Peng S, McKenzie EC, Petersen JL. Commercial genetic testing for type 2 polysaccharide storage myopathy and myofibrillar myopathy does not correspond to a histopathological diagnosis. Equine Vet J. 2021;53(4):690-700.
  64. Edwards LA, Donnelly CG, Reed SM, Valberg S, Chigerwe M, Johnson AL, Finno CJ. Serum and cerebrospinal fluid phosphorylated neurofilament heavy protein concentrations in equine neurodegenerative diseases. Equine Vet J. 2021 May 9. Epub ahead of print.
  65. Hales EN, Aleman M, Marquardt SA, Katzman SA, Woolard KD, Miller AD, Finno CJ. Postmortem diagnoses of spinal ataxia in 316 horses in California. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2021;258(12):1386-1393.
  66. Peng S, Bellone R, Petersen JL, Kalbfleisch TS, Finno CJ. Successful ATAC-Seq From Snap-Frozen Equine Tissues. Front Genet. 2021;12:641788.
  67. Hales EN, Habib H, Favro G, Katzman S, Sakai RR, Marquardt S, Bordbari MH, Ming-Whitfield B, Peterson J, Dahlgren AR, Rivas V, Ramirez CA, Peng S, Donnelly CG, Dizmang BS, Kallenberg A, Grahn R, Miller AD, Woolard K, Moeller B, Puschner B, Finno CJ. Increased α-tocopherol metabolism in horses with equine neuroaxonal dystrophy. J Vet Intern Med. 2021;35(5):2473-2485.
  68. de Albuquerque AL, Zanzarini Delfiol DJ, Andrade DGA, Albertino LG, Sonne L, Borges AS, Valberg SJ, Finno CJ, Oliveira-Filho JP. Prevalence of the E321G MYH1 variant in Brazilian Quarter Horses. Equine Vet J. 2021 Oct 4.
  69. Peng S, Petersen JL, Bellone RR, Kalbfleisch T, Kingsley NB, Barber AM, Cappelletti E, Giulotto E, Finno CJ. Decoding the Equine Genome: Lessons from ENCODE. Genes (Basel). 2021;12(11):1707.
  70. Dahlgren AR, Knych HK, Arthur RM, Durbin-Johnson BP, Finno CJ. Transcriptomic Markers of Recombinant Human Erythropoietin Micro-Dosing in Thoroughbred Horses. Genes (Basel). 2021;12(12):1874.
  71. Larison B, Pinho GM, Haghani A, Zoller JA, Li CZ, Finno CJ, Farrell C, Kaelin CB, Barsh GS, Wooding B, Robeck TR, Maddox D, Pellegrini M, Horvath S. Epigenetic models developed for plains zebras predict age in domestic horses and endangered equids. Commun Biol. 2021;4(1):1412.
  72. Ochala J, Finno CJ, Valberg SJ. Myofibre Hyper-Contractility in Horses Expressing the Myosin Heavy Chain Myopathy Mutation, MYH1E321G. Cells. 2021;10(12):3428.
  73. Horvath S, Haghani A, Peng S, Hales EN, Zoller JA, Raj K, Larison B, Robeck TR, Petersen JL, Bellone RR, Finno CJ. DNA methylation aging and transcriptomic studies in horses. Nat Commun. 2022;10;13(1):40.

Laboratory Members

Welsey Leigh - Lab Manager

Welsey Leigh (Lab Manager)

As an undergraduate, Wesley majored in Neurobiology at the University of Pennsylvania. Thereafter, he attended graduate school under Dr. Kenton Sanders and Dr. Salah Baker to investigate the role of the interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC)in colonic and gastric motility. He has extensive experience with in-situ and in-vivo 2-photon Ca2+ transient imaging, colonic contractile recording, electrophysiological experiments, qPCR, and many molecular biology techniques. After graduate school, Wesley worked as a Lab Manager for two labs at UC Davis that investigate the Gut-Brain Axis and Neuro-Immune circuits. He recently joined the Finno Laboratory as a Lab Manager and is excited to work on the role of Vitamin E in Neurodegeneration. 
Dr. Tomasz Szmatoła

Dr. Tomasz Szmatoła
Dr. Szmatoła is a bioinformatician from the Center for Experimental and Innovative Medicine of the University of Agriculture in Kraków and the National Research Institute of Animal Production. He recently received a Fulbright Senior scholarship to work at UC Davis. He specializes in the analysis of data related to Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), mainly associated with animal genomics, transcriptomics or epigenetics. In particular, he is interested in the possibility of combining omics datasets, looking for relationships between them and holistically examining particular problems. His scientific interests include the search for polymorphic variants associated with genetic diseases in animals, hence his interest in the subject of juvenile idiopathic epilepsy in Arabian horses. In addition, he is fascinated by learning new programming languages, searching for better data analysis solutions or simply graphical presentation of the results thanks to the use of newer and better R package libraries.
Dr. Stephanie Ryan

Dr. Stephanie Ryan (Ph.D. Student)
Dr. Ryan received her Bachelors of Science in Genetics from UC Davis. She continued her education at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine with a focus on mixed species. Currently, she is a Ph.D. student in the Integrative Pathobiology graduate group, and is a Comparative Oncology T32 Trainee.  Her research focuses on the role of vitamin E status in the development and severity of cisplatin induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), a side effect of platinum-based chemotherapeutics which can lead to permanent gait abnormalities and pain.  She is also exploring genetic variants found in horses with equine neuroaxonal dystrophy, with the goal of uncovering the genetic basis for the disease.
Harrison Heath

Harrison Heath (Research Data Analyst)
Harrison earned his Bachelor's Degree in Biotechnology from UC Davis. During his undergraduate career, he was an undergraduate researcher with the Finno Laboratory, where he focused on bioinformatics. He is now a Research Data Analyst, primarily studying the effects of splice site and intergenic variants using whole genome sequencing and transcriptomics. His goal is to contribute to our understanding and annotation of the horse genome. Additionally, Harrison is involved in other projects in the lab as a data analyst and curator.