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Current Projects

New HBLB Veterinary Science Research and Education Awards starting in 2026

 

 Major Projects 

Institute 

Project Title 

Professor Stephanie Dakin 

* with £70,000 from Racing Foundation  

Oxford 

Pro-resolving therapies: A new therapeutic paradigm targeting inflammation in tendon injury 

Professor Paul Pryor 

* with £70,000 from Racing Foundation 

York 

Understanding the survival of intracellular Rhodococcus equi    

Dr Laura Randall 

*with £60,000 from Racing Foundation 

Nottingham 

Toward Racehorse Injury Prevention: A Computer Vision Based Approach for Monitoring Behaviour in Stabled Racehorses and Early Identification of Musculoskeletal Injuries   

Professor John Keen 

Edinburgh 

Harnessing the potential of advanced cardiac imaging for studying and treating atrial fibrillation and other arrhythmias in Thoroughbred horses 

Small Projects 

Institute 

Project Title 

Joseph Neary 

Liverpool 

Advancing Thoroughbred Welfare and Performance: Real-time, Non-invasive Biomarker Monitoring using Dermal Smartpatches 

Professor Mandy Peffers 

Liverpool 

Evaluating Pomegranate Nanovesicles for Treating Equine Osteoarthritis 

James Adams 

Surrey 

Mixed microbial messages: Exploring the impact of microbial metabolites within the gut-lung axis on equine asthma associated lung inflammation using a lung cell line model. 

Sushant Bhat 

APHA 

Harnessing Mucosal Immunity to Prevent Equine Influenza Virus Spread 

Research Scholarship 

Institute 

Project Title 

Dr Ashley Roberts 

Lincoln 

Developing Equine Herpes antivirals from protein interaction inhibitor peptides 

Professor Mandy Peffers 

Liverpool 

Investigating cellular heterogeneity in tendon homeostasis and ageing using cutting-edge single-cell proteomics 

Dr Laura Peachey 

Bristol 

Start Strong: Understanding How Early-Life Interactions Between the Gut Microbiome, Immune function, and Helminth Infection Influence Long-Term Health and Performance in Thoroughbred Foals 

Dr April Lawson 

Liverpool 

Enhancing Equine Infectious Disease Surveillance with AI and Natural Language Processing 

Dr Susan Armstrong 

Surrey 

Investigating the role of pericytes in Exercise-induced Pulmonary Haemorrhage disease and progression 

Post Doctoral Fellowship 

Institute 

Project Title 

Dr Vinothini Prabharakan 

Edinburgh 

Engineering equine 3D biomimetic tendon macro-tissues for tendon repair 

Dr Emily Clarke 

Liverpool 

Equine Musculoskeletal Biology and Regenerative Medicine 

Dr Olivia Curry 

Edinburgh 

Equine Pain and Welfare    

Last Updated: 07 May 2026