Dr Emmeline Hill, co-founder of Equinome, the University College Dublin equine genomics company headquartered at NovaUCD, has been shortlisted for the 2010 David Manley Business Entrepreneur of the Year Award. 

Equinome was established in 2009 to assist the bloodstock industry to maximise the genetic potential of Thoroughbred horses. In this multi-billion euro industry, Ireland has earned a reputation as a global leader through its consistent production of world champion horses.  

Traditionally Thoroughbreds have been selected using only a mix of visual assessment combined with historical bloodline data to infer their likely genetic composition. However, research led by Dr Emmeline Hill, UCD School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, in 2009 resulted in the world’s first successful identification of a performance-related gene in Thoroughbred horses. This gene was found to predict sprinting ability and stamina potential, which can immediately identify a Thoroughbred as a potential sprinter, middle-distance or long-distance horse. Following this breakthrough, Equinome was co-founded by Dr Hill and Jim Bolger, the well known Irish horse breeder and trainer, and the Equinome Speed Gene Test was commercially launched last January.  

Dr Emmeline Hill, co-founder, Equinome

The company, which was overall winner of the NovaUCD 2009 Campus Company Development Programme, has already secured major clients in Australia, France, Ireland, UK and USA. With new products scheduled for 2011 and 2012, Equinome’s vision is to become the global industry standard for the provision of genetic information to the Thoroughbred horse industry. 

Other members of Equinome’s team are Donal Ryan, Managing Director and Professor David MacHugh, Scientific Director. 

The judging panel for the 2010 David Manley Emerging Entrepreneur Awards is chaired by Alfie Kane with vice-chair, Dr Chris Horn.  The winner of the 2010 David Manley Business Entrepreneur of the Year Award will be announced in mid-November as will the winners of the two other award categories, Arts Entrepreneur and Social Entrepreneur.

The overall Award winner will be announced at a ceremony in January 2010.  The Awards carries a prize package of more than €100,000 comprising mentoring, consultancy and €10,000 in cash. 

The other two shortlisted entrepreneurs in the business entrepreneur category are Ed Hendrick, founder of Sonru, which enables corporates to transform their first round screening process using secure online video technology and Mary Kelly, Founder FeePay, an affordable and accessible system which would enable clubs and small businesses to accept debit and credit card payments. 

ENDS

18 October 2010

For further information contact Micéal Whelan, NovaUCD, e: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie, t: + 353 1 716 3712. 

Editor’s Notes

Equinome, the equine genomics company, was established in 2009 as a result of groundbreaking research led by company co-founder, Dr Emmeline Hill in partnership with racehorse trainer Mr Jim Bolger. Equinome’s ongoing research and development activities continue to support collaborations between world-class science and elite racehorse breeding and training. Equinome, headquartered in NovaUCD, the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre at UCD, has also established facilities at UCD’s School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine and at Jim Bolger’s training yard in Co. Kilkenny, Ireland. Through this research Equinome is continuing to drive the cutting-edge of equine performance genomics.

NovaUCD, the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre, is the hub of knowledge transfer activities at University College Dublin. NovaUCD is responsible for the commercialisation of intellectual property arising from UCD research and for the development of co-operation with industry and business. NovaUCD as a purpose-built centre also nurtures new technology and knowledge-intensive enterprises. NovaUCD has been funded through a unique public-private partnership that includes AIB Bank, Arthur Cox, Deloitte, Enterprise Ireland, Ericsson, Goodbody Stockbrokers, UCD and Xilinx.