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Following graduation from the vet school at the University of Cambridge, Chris undertook specialist clinical training in equine gastroenterology and a PhD at the University of Liverpool. He was a clinical teacher and researcher at Liverpool University until 2013, focussing on the causes and treatment of equine intestinal disease. Following a move to the ������ý, where he led the development of the UK’s eighth school of veterinary medicine, he incorporated metagenomics and metabolomics into his research. He has supported the veterinary research community through chairing the Veterinary Advisory Committee of , and past membership of the ’s Veterinary Advisory Committee and the Scientific Steering Committee of the .

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Roberto graduated in 1995 and holds a postgraduate degree in veterinary microbiology from the Royal Veterinary College and a PhD on the pathogenesis of E. coli in poultry from Royal Holloway, University of London. He was formerly Head of Pathogenesis and Control at the government’s Animal and Plant Health Agency before joining the founding team of the School of Veterinary Medicine at the ������ý. Roberto is currently a Professor of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology and Head of the School of Biosciences. Roberto’s research focusses on zoonotic bacterial pathogens of livestock, poultry and companion animals. He has over 200 peer reviewed publications in the area of veterinary microbiology and pathology and is a member of several scientific advisory committees, including for the Food Standards Agency, Royal College of Pathologists, APHA and the Jenner Institute. 

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Jack graduated in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in Human Biosciences from the University of Northampton before undertaking a Master of Research in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Birmingham. In 2020, Jack undertook a PhD researching Canine Cutaneous and Renal Glomerular Vasculopathy (“Alabama Rot”) at the School of Veterinary Medicine, the ������ý. As a microbiologist, Jack’s expertise lies in gut microbiota exploration through metagenomics and metabolomics. Jack worked as part of the communication, and education and training team for the , where he gained extensive experience in science communication and project management. In December 2023, Jack began a Research Fellow role investigating next-generation probiotics for equine health.

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Joy Leng obtained a BSc in Biology from the University of Manchester (2010), an MSc in Advanced Sciences from the University of Liverpool (2011), and then gained a PhD from the University of Reading. Her PhD focused on profiling the gut microbiome and metabolome of horses suffering from equine grass sickness using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. Joy then joined the Horse Microbiome Research Group at the ������ý to work as a post-doctoral research fellow where she developed an in-vitro model of the equine hind-gut and the chicken caeca before being the lead researcher on the Well Foal Study. Currently she is working on Well Foal study 2 which aims to better understand the origin of early life foal gut microbiome and utilise the equine gut model to assess strategies to stop gut microbiome perturbation induced by antibiotics.

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Achieving a BSC in Biological sciences at the University of East Anglia and a Master's in Research at Royal Holloway University of London, James has gone on to complete his PhD at the ������ý investigating alternatives to antibiotics for the control of Avian E. coli. Combining microbiology and immunology, this project focused on identifying postbiotics with the capacity to enhance innate immune responses to bacterial infection. James then joined the Horse Microbiome Research Group at the ������ý in 2025 to work as a post-doctoral research fellow investigating the relationship between inflammatory immunological factors and the microbial community within the foal gut, and how this impacts long term health. 

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Chloe graduated from Nottingham Trent University with a First Class Honors in BSc Equine Sports Science before carrying on with her studies at NTU by completing a Master of Research in Equine Health and Welfare. In October 2022, Chloe began working at the ������ý as a Laboratory Technician in the School of Veterinary Medicine's teaching laboratories, where she assisted in the general running and maintenance of the laboratories, preparing, setting up, and delivering practical's, alongside assisting with other areas of the School of Veterinary Medicine.

Taking the skills from her studies and previous role in the ������ý, Chloe is now working as a Research Assistant in the School of Veterinary Medicine on the ALBORADA Well Foal Study II, alongside Professor Christopher Proudman, and has become a member of the Horse Microbiome Research Group.

Brenda Moita is a passionate researcher specialising in Equine Grass Sickness (EGS), a devastating neurodegenerative disease affecting horses. Her PhD project seeks to solve the complex molecular mechanisms of EGS through innovative approaches in proteomics, biomarker discovery, and computational biology. As a Member of the Royal Society of Biology (MRSB), Brenda is driven to advance equine health through rigorous scientific inquiry.

Her research integrates bottom-up proteomics, machine learning, and proteogenomics to identify diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for EGS. By employing cutting-edge technologies, such as AlphaFold3 and Python-based bioinformatics tools, Brenda bridges computational and experimental techniques to provide new insights into this poorly understood condition. 

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Bader is a veterinary researcher specialising in internal medicine. He obtained a Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine from King Faisal University (KFU) in 2015, followed by a Master of Veterinary Science (MRes) from the University of Nottingham in 2023. His master's research utilised large-scale data analysis techniques to investigate equine surgical colic via a text-mining approach.

Bader is pursuing a PhD, focusing on the microbiome of the equine gut and respiratory tract: associations between bacterial communities in different body compartments and animal health.

His Principle supervisor is: Prof Christopher Proudman (Professor of Veterinary Clinical Science) and his Co-supervisor is: Dr Anna Eleonora Karagianni (Lecturer in Veterinary Clinical Research).

The life of a thoroughbred racehorse after their racing career is one of the key concerns of the general public about the racing industry. Thoroughbred racehorses usually begin their career at a very young age and can retire between the ages of 3 and 7 depending on their career trajectory and health status. A large number of racehorses progress on to a career within broader equestrian sports with the correct retraining. Horses can live well into their late 20's with the correct care and management. Understanding ways in which owners can support the wellbeing of their animals along with objective assessments of their welfare status is key to ensuring horses age in a healthy way. There is a large body of research in human geriatric medicine to suggest that the gut microbiome changes significantly with age and can have a range of influences on systemic health, including the progression of frailty and diseases that have detrimental impacts on overall quality of life. One way of measuring quality of life is The Animal Welfare Assessment Grid (AWAG), which is a validated tool for measuring welfare in a variety of animals. The AWAG provides a longitudinal view of the progression and changes that occur regarding the animal's welfare and quality of life using physical, psychological, procedural and environmental parameters.  The research outcomes of this study has the potential to improve the welfare of a wide range of horses, with particular focus on supporting retired racehorses. Recognising the influence that age has on the microbiome and therefore potentially welfare will aid in forming early intervention strategies to support a range of horses and explore the impact of changes in husbandry and exercise on the microbiota. Additionally, validating a welfare tool for assessing the quality of life in horses will provide a more objective approach for veterinarians, owners and caregivers when making decisions surrounding the horse's health.

After obtaining his PhD at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, Arnoud worked at the University of Leicester, UK, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Erasmus MC-University Medical Center Rotterdam, working on different aspects of molecular microbiology of human, foodborne and zoonotic bacterial pathogens. In 2007, he took up a position as Research Leader at the Institute of Food Research, Norwich, UK, where he led a research group focusing on the foodborne pathogens Campylobacter and Listeria. He moved to the School of Veterinary Medicine of the ������ý in 2016, where he has built the bioinformatic infrastructure for the analysis of large genomic datasets and other bioinformatics techniques, while continuing his research on antimicrobial resistance and zoonotic infections of bacterial pathogens. Within the Horse Microbiome Research Group, Arnoud supports and maintains the bioinformatic facilities and helps with the interpretation of the results.

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Anna Eleonora Karagianni is a certified veterinary surgeon and an immunologist by training. She graduated as a veterinarian at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece (2008) and shortly after she continued her veterinary training in a small animal practice. After that, she obtained a Master by Research in veterinary immunology at the Royal Veterinary College University of London (2010) and a PhD in equine macrophage biology at the Roslin Institute and the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, Edinburgh University (2014). Her academic career continued with postdoctoral positions in veterinary immunology at the Roslin Institute, Edinburgh University (funded by Zoetis), and Moredun Research Institute (BBSRC funded). In 2018, she was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship at the Roslin Institute, Edinburgh University, funded by the Horserace Betting Levy Board. The outcomes of her fellowship led to new follow-up funding (Hong Kong Jockey Club Equine Welfare Research Foundation). Anna has also worked short term as a trainee at the European Food Safety Authority in Parma, Italy at the Animal Health Unit (2022). Last August, she joined ������ý University as a lecturer in Veterinary Clinical Research at the department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, while she continues collaborating with the Roslin Institute. Her work aims to apply advanced comparative multiomic methodologies (transcriptomics & proteomics) to study immunology in health and disease across species and address potential similarities regarding their immunity, under the umbrella of One Health. She has a particular interest in airway immunology and equine asthma.

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