Dillian Johnson, a final year undergraduate equine science student at the University of Limerick, has won first place in the Alltech Young Scientist Competition.

More than 8,500 entries were received for the annual competition, which was open to scientists working on natural solutions to animal health, plant technology, environmental sciences and biotechnology-related challenges.

Johnson, who is currently in her final weeks of a Bsc Equine Science degree, took first place in the Europe, Africa and Middle East undergraduate category for her project entitled ‘Comparative Genomic Identification and Characterisation of a Novel ß-Defensin Gene Cluster in the Equine Genome.’

Under the supervision of Dr. Sean Fair in the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Limerick, she identified a cluster of 13 novel ß-Defensin genes which she found to be expressed along the reproductive tracts of the mare and stallion. These genes are thought to play a pivotal role in controlling how sperm are matured in the stallion and subsequently the way in which they interact with the reproductive tract of the mare. ß-Defensins play a role in post-breeding induced endometritis in horses.

On Thursday, Johnson was announced as the winner of overall global undergraduate award at a ceremony in Lexington City, Kentucky.

Dr Sean Fair from the Department of Life Sciences in University of Limerick said the university was delighted for Johnson.

“This is an amazing achievement for an undergraduate student. It is once in a lifetime we have a student who wins an award like this,” he told The Irish Field.

Meanwhile, the university’s current crop of final year students presented their research projects at a special gathering on Wednesday.

Among the projects undertaken was an investigation into the use of draw reins in Irish show jumping by Danielle O’Neill and a study of the effect of bit material (copper, sweet-iron, rubber or steel) on saliva production and jaw movements in the horse by Orla Donworth.

O’Neill found that a large number of riders on the Irish circuit were using draw reins as part of their warm-up at a show as well as in their home training regime. She found that the average number of clear rounds recorded by riders using draw-reins was lower than those riders who did not use draw reins.

Rachel Feeley investigated whether horses travelled in a horsebox without a partition were less stressed than horses travelled in a horsebox with a partition. She found no difference in the behaviour of the two groups of horses, but acknowledged that her small size was small for the research.

Two other students – Elizabeth Ryan and Regina Burke – investigated the effect of rein tension and bit height on the movement and jumping technique of horses, while Hannah Hughes investigated the effect of turn-out and horse walker exercise on the behaviour of riding school horses.