Menlo Park, Cal. – Sept. 18, 2018 – Planning for the future as a horse owner can be daunting. Genetic testing, which has become a popular tool in human healthcare, is now available to horse owners to help shed light on the health and potential of a horse. From uncovering breeding capabilities, to diagnostic and performance indicators, Etalon Diagnostics (EtalonDx) was developed to offer owners, riders, and breeders, a simple, effective way to reveal the unique genetic traits and the unique genetic identity of their equine partners. EtalonDx’s team is thrilled to showcase their scientific processes and services at this year’s most prestigious equestrian event, the FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG).
Founded in 2013 by Christa Lafayette, the mission of EtalonDx is simple – to improve the lives and health of valued performance, service, and companion equines. In addition to being a part of the excitement of WEG, EtalonDx is proud to announce a partnership with equestrian athlete Vani Khosla. Not only is Khosla a top athlete and an expert in the equestrian sport, she is a valued investor who strongly believes in supporting the mission of EtalonDx. Khosla will be joining the EtalonDx team at the Tryon International Equestrian Center during the second week of competition.
The team of experts assembled at EtalonDx are scientists, geneticists, biologists, technology experts, professional equestrians, and horse owners from Silicon Valley as well as esteemed universities and laboratories from across the nation. Dr. Carlos Bustamante comes to EtalonDx from Stanford University where he Chairs the Biomedical Data Science Department applying Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning tools to the most pressing problems in healthcare delivery. He has also been scientific advisor, founder, and board member at multiple biotech spinouts and direct-to-consumer genetic companies. Dr. Samantha Brooks comes to EtalonDx from University of Florida where she is Associate Professor, Equine Physiology. Her research program explores a variety of topics relevant to horse health ranging from gene expression studies to mapping of genetic disorders in the horse. Ongoing work targets variation in gait, susceptibility to infectious disease, metabolic syndrome and skeletal defects using genome-wide association, genome re-sequencing and transcriptomics.
On Thursday, September 20, come hear Dr. Brooks present at the Tryon International Equestrian Center: “Using the Equine Genetics Power Tool. What we know today and how it changes tomorrow.”
Along with Dr. Brooks, EtalonDx’s team of women scientists (who are also equestrians) will be onsite at WEG to answer any questions owners and riders have about EtalonDx’s services, as well as the genetic interpretation of their equine partners. WEG exhibitors can visit Tent B10-6 to have an exclusive, first-look at the new services and preclinical trials that EtalonDx has to offer, and have the unique opportunity to get to know more about what’s inside their horse.
To learn more about the complete list of services from EtalonDx, click here.
