In association with European partners, the Frank Duncombe laboratory is perfecting a DNA chip capable of simultaneously screening several viruses implicated in respiratory disorders in race and sport horses.

With a population of 100,000 heads, Lower Normandy is the quintessential equine region. As France’s leading horse breeding region, it produces over 10,000 foals every year and boasts around 1,000 stallions ensuring 56% of France’s thoroughbred, Trotteur Français and Selle Français mating. And it’s thanks to the performance of these horses that Normandy’s horse industry is in such prime position. Nevertheless, every year, these horses (be they athletic or from the stud farm ) can suffer from respiratory disorders (”bronchitis”, rhinopneumonia, equine influenza…) that affect their competitive performance or hamper their future potential (90% of poor performers have at least one respiratory disorder throughout their racing career). So it’s far from surprising that research in Lower Normandy is at the forefront of issues concerning the health of these competing horses.
The French and European leader in equine pathology, the Frank Duncombe laboratory, is due to coordinate a consortium within the context of the Interreg IV “North West Europe” programme, on the theme of Respiratory viruses and Horse Performance. Codename: ERVIP ⁽¹⁾.
« This project will be associating teams from France (CIRALE - Centre for imaging and research into equine locomotor disorders, Nantes Veterinary School), from Ireland (Irish Equine Centre in Kildare), England (Newmarket Animal Health Trust) and Belgium (University of Liège)”, resumes Guillaume Fortier, Director of the laboratory’s Animal Health department. “Each partner will offer its own skill and know-how to enable us, together, to develop a “microarray chip” aimed at providing breeders and veterinary surgeons with an innovative diagnostic tool for respiratory viruses (adenovirus, equine influenza, rhinovirus and herpesvirus).” The project’s total budget is estimated at €3M, 50% of which is co-funded by the ERDF.

Support from MIRIADE

“Over a three-year period, we will be compiling and studying a panel of 1,000 horses (750 diseased and 250 controls), throughout France, Ireland and England,” adds Eric Richard, a veterinary surgeon at the Frank Duncombe laboratory. “Analysis of respiratory liquid samples will be partly conducted in Caen.” And to convince the European jury to grant the funds required to accomplish its research work, the consortium contacted MIRIADE (2) and the Calvados Departmental Council and Lower Normandy Regional Council’s “Europe” units in order to draft a credible proposal. “We accompanied the laboratory to validate the eligibility of its project,” explains Laurent Lecoeur, MIRIADE’s European Project Coordinator. “We identified distinct themes and conceptualised the project by organising it in the form of “work packages”, we lobbied in Brussels, looked for regional, French and European partners, etc.”
The project will be formally filed late 2010 at the Interreg IV B “North West Europe” Managing Authority’s Joint Technical Secretariat (JTS), located in Lille. “If the JTS endorses the project, it will then be submitted to a Steering Committee, comprising representatives from regional and national authorities located within North West Europe, which will in turn give the final decision on whether the project is accepted or rejected,” adds Laurent Lecoeur. In the meantime, the entire industry is keeping its fingers crossed. The European decision is eagerly awaited, for the perfecting of this diagnostic chip, and its subsequent marketing, would represent major progress in the screening and treatment of respiratory diseases, the consequences and the economic impact of which are considerable. “Our work concerns both competition and private horses, i.e. a total population of around 100,000 animals.” highlights Guillaume Fortier.

(1) Equine health and performance in Europe }
(2) Perfectly aware of the stakes involved, MIRIADE (Regional Mission for Innovation and Economic Development Action) and the Competitiveness Cluster organised a European Gateway entitled « Research and Innovation in the Horse Industry » last November, in order to offer businesses and research units the opportunity to meet and to share their skills towards the materialisation of wealth-generating innovative industrial and commercial projects.

> Guillaume Fortier and Eric Richard
Franck Duncombe Laboratory 1 Route de Rosel / 14053 Caen Cedex 4
Tel: : 02 31 47 19 19
Website: http://www.cg14.fr/economie/laboratoire/

> Laurent Lecoeur
MIRIADE 8 Rue Alfred Kastler, 14000 Caen
Tel: : 02 31 53 34 43
Website: www.miriade-innovation.fr

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