Pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID) is a common disease of older equines affecting >25% of animals over the age of 15 years. It has various associated clinical signs that could impact quality-of-life (QoL) including the painful hoof condition laminitis, weight loss and lethargy. Owners frequently mistake some of these clinical signs as being associated with ageing and not important enough to seek veterinary advice. Additionally, owners face increased physical care burden (time, money and physical exertion), along with increased emotional burden such as a changed mental state caused by affected animal encountering challenges that require additional care.

Insulinomas are the most common tumours of the pancreas in dogs. This multi-institutional prospective study evaluates the effectiveness of the drug toceranib phosphate in the treatment of insulinomas in dogs. This is an observational multi-institutional prospective trial. Client preferences regarding control/treatment group allocation will be followed and enrolment will not be blinded or randomised.

The project aims to investigate the contributions of gestational exposures and genetic variants to the risk of congenital developmental orthopaedic disorders (cDOD) in Thoroughbred foals.

The project will provide novel insights into the development, incidence and genetic basis of cDOD in Thoroughbred foals. The project outputs will inform evidence-based management modifications for Thoroughbred breeders to reduce the risk of cDOD in foals and improve broodmare fertility and welfare long-term. 

Insulinomas in dogs are difficult to cure by surgery. We investigate which genes are crucial for survival of insulinoma cells, allowing us to design new treatments targeted at these genes. Insulinomas are the most common pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours in dogs and humans. Current treatment options are limited to surgery and palliative medical therapy. Survival is poor with a median of 4 [range 0-18] months and 14 [range 0-51] months for medically and surgically treated dogs, respectively. Hence, new, more precise treatments are needed to improve the clinical outcome for dogs and humans with malignant insulinomas.

Cancer remains a formidable challenge, affecting both our beloved companion animals and ourselves. The RVC Cancer Biobank takes centre stage as a crucial resource in the quest for biomedical advancements. By offering a standardised approach to biospecimen collection and archiving, our mission is to accelerate cancer research and drive the development of precision medicine. Through the power of linking cancer samples with comprehensive patient information, we can pave the way for more effective, targeted, and less toxic therapies.

Equine exertional rhabdomyolysis (ER) is a syndrome involving painful, exercise induced episodes of muscle stiffness and acute myonecrosis which can result in renal failure and in severe cases, death.

We propose to better define genetic subtypes of canine lymphoma and characterising response to treatment of the different subtypes through a combination of more accurate phenotyping of lymphomas by integrating a) advanced image analysis b) genome sequencing, and c) total RNA sequencing (including micro-RNA sequencing).