Anna Dahlgren, who received the California Thoroughbred Foundation’s Louis R. Rowan Fellowship in 2017, is about to complete her Ph.D. at the University of California, Davis. The training Dahlgren has received will support her long-standing interest in improving the health of Thoroughbred racehorses and contributing to the industry that Louis Rowan cared about so passionately.
Working with UC Davis professors Drs. Fern Tablin and Carrie Finno, Dahlgren investigated the underlying genetic cause for atypical equine thrombasthenia (AET), a heritable platelet dysfunction that causes prolonged bleeding following injury. The potential role for this disorder in de-laying wound healing could have a significant impact on the Thoroughbred industry.
Dahlgren graduated with her B.S. degree in biochemistry/molecular biology from Bethel University in St. Paul, Minn., prior to pursuing her Ph.D. at UC Davis. Throughout her Ph.D. training, she has not only researched the genetic basis of AET, but also investigated the effects of micro-dosing of erythropoietin in racing Thoroughbreds to identify a biomarker for drug testing.
“Anna has done a tremendous amount of work during her Ph.D. to discover inherited and induced hematologic disturbances in Thoroughbred horses,” said Dr. Finno, her primary mentor. “We are so proud of all she has accomplished and her dedication to improving the health of the Thoroughbred breed.”
Upon completion of her Ph.D., Dahlgren will be pursuing post doctorate training at a laboratory that uses a zebrafish model to study the effects of various genetic mutations on bleeding disorders. She hopes to extend her investigations of AET using this well-described animal model and then work in academia long-term, contributing to the field of animal genetics.