Welcome to the Equine Colitis Lab website at NC State! The Equine Colitis Lab is focused on equine gastrointestinal diseases and finding new therapies to treat or prevent these diseases, with a particular focus on acute colitis. The Equine Colitis Lab is led by Breanna Sheahan, an assistant professor and large animal medicine specialist in the equine hospital of NC State. Head over to the Equine Internal Medicine website to learn more about NC State’s great internal medicine services!
Over half of the equine internal medicine case load at NC State is made up of horses presenting for colic (a broad term for gastrointestinal pain). In other words, we see a LOT of gastrointestinal disease in horses! And unfortunately we still have an incomplete understanding of the underlying processes in gastrointestinal disease as well as the best treatments or preventative strategies.
Our goal in this lab is to understand how certain kinds of gastrointestinal disease occur in horses, and to develop novel therapies to treat these diseases. For colitis specifically, we have the following three major pillars of scientific investigation: 1) discovering novel etiologic agents associated with colitis (Haywood et al, EVJ 2025), 2) defining epithelial barrier injury and repair in in vitro models of colitis (Sheahan et al, JEVS 2026), and 3) discovering biomarkers that will improve our ability to diagnose these cases and provide a prognosis. While Dr. Sheahan has a strong interest in acute colitis, the lab has also studied the following intestinal diseases of the horse: gastric ulcers in patients undergoing colic surgery, ways to reduce incisional pain after colic surgery (Burke et al, EVJ 2026), complications of nasogastric intubation (Fielding et al, JAVMA 2026), epithelial transport of Vitamin E, intestinal hormone secretion in insulin dysregulation, and optimization of culture conditions for stomach organoids as a model for the equine stomach.
We are or have been funded by the following organizations: Morris Animal Foundation, Foundation for the Horse, American Quarter Horse Foundation, North Carolina Horse Council, and NC State College of Veterinary Medicine (Intramural awards). We are also generously supported by donations from horse owners and the equine community. If you would like to consider donating to our research fund, please visit https://www.givecampus.com/campaigns and search for the Equine Gastrointestinal Inflammation Research Fund.
Please feel free to reach out to Dr. Sheahan ([email protected]) if you are interested in the lab or the research! A PhD position for Fall 2027 is open. Summer research opportunities for veterinary students are available through the Veterinary Scholars Program (we have trained 6 veterinary students through this program to date!) and undergraduate research opportunities are available year-round for class credit.
