- Etalon Admin
Can a Triple Crown winner be genetically-engineered? The answer is not what you think!
“Could Etalon’s technology be used to breed a genetically engineered triple crown winner?” asked hosts Joy Hills and Jamie Jennings of Retired Racehorse Radio by Kentucky Performance Products.
EtalonDx founder and CEO Christa Lafayette joined the ladies for Episode 41 of the Retired Racehorse Radio titled “DNA testing for Kissing Spines, Slice of Life with Leandra, and Southern Brigade by Kentucky Performance Products”. Christa’s answer to whether or not a triple crown winner could be genetically engineered isn’t what you might think! Listen now to hear what she has to say.
The three discussed equine DNA testing, Etalon’s mission, and Etalon’s recent preclinical study on Kissing Spines.
“Etalon’s general mission is to design horse services the way that we would want them as horse people – the information provided as quickly and as straightforward as possible.
The bigger mission, though, is less visible. We work towards preclinical discovery in general for all mammals. If we horsey people get together and discover genetics within horses, many of the things we have discovered and we test for – diseases, performance, color, traits – is applicable to humans as well. As we’re doing this, it’s cruelty free – no animals living in a lab to be able to improve the human and horse condition.” Christa explained.
“All of us would love to be able to wrap our horses in bubble wrap to limit the number of vet bills. So, for what you guys are doing I can’t thank you enough” replied one of the hosts.
“Can you tell us a little bit about the DNA tests and for what you’re hoping it will offer to other riders and horse owners?”
“The inspiration behind the testing came out of my own experience as a horse owner, a couple years back” Christa explained. “I was finally able to afford my own horses (yay!), and because I had purchased breeding stallions, the registries all said that I had to DNA test my horses. So, I’m a nerd, and was like “that’s amazing!”, but then I went to do it… and the experience was not amazing. I’m an animal scientist. In the biotech world, I have helped design many of these research behavioral and surgical models that go into human therapeutics. When it comes to science, if I look online at a DNA test for my horse and I and can’t understand it, who can?”
Christa went on to explain that Etalon’s DNA testing is designed to identify health and disease risk, coat color and patterns, and performance and ancestry.
And then, the host posed the question – “Could Etalon’s technology be used to breed a genetically-engineered triple crown winner?”
The answer is not what you expect!
Listen now to learn whether or not technology could be used to breed a genetically engineered triple crown winner, and learn more about Etalon’s recent Kissing Spines study and when to expect results.