UGent Aquaculture R&D Consortium
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Vertebrate Morphology and Developmental Biology

Department of Biology< Faculty of Sciences

Personnel

  • Ann Huysseune
  • Bart Bulckaen
  • P. Eckhard Witten

Activities

For over 25 years, the research group has been involved in studies on the structure and development of the skeleton and the dentition in bony fish. Histological and morphological analyses of skeletal tissues are part of the daily routine. Recently expertise has also been acquired regarding the molecular control of skeletal development through studies of expression of relevant genes. To this end, the research group developed a unique technique for non-radioactive in situ hybridisation on cryosections of adult material.

Because of expertise in fish skeletal development, the research group has become increasingly sollicitated to participate in studies of skeletal deformities in farmed fish. We have conducted several studies together with the Nutreco (Skretting) Aquaculture Research Centre in Stavanger (Norway). Furthermore, the research group is official partner in the "Norwegian Deformity platform", an integration of Norwegian research projects about malformations in farmed Atlantic salmon, financed by the ‘Research Council of Norway’. Studies within the "Deformity Platform" are conducted in collaboration with AKVAFORSK (Ås, collaborator Dr. P.E. Witten), the Institute for Marine Research (IFM, Matre, collaborator Dr. T. Hansen) and the National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research (NIFES Bergen, collaborators L. Gil-Martens and Dr. R. Ørnsrud) .Other projects within Europe are carried out together with the Dr. L. Cancela and her research group (University of the Algarve, Portugal). These studies concern skeletal deformities in farmed Sea Bream.

Contact

  • tel: + 32 9 264 5229
  • fax: + 32 9 264 5344
  • Mailing address:
    • Biology Department, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, B-9000 Gent, Belgium
 
homepage manager: Jean Dhont
UGent Aquaculture R&D Consortium (Ghent University
Laboratory of Aquaculture (Rozier 44 (tel: +32 (0)9 264.37.54 (fax: +32 (0)9 264.41.93