Projects
Equine arrhythmias: innovations that improve diagnosis, horse welfare and rider’s safety Ghent University
Sudden death during exercise occurs at a 10 times higher ratio in horses compared to human
athletes and is in 68% of the cases caused by fatal cardiac arrhythmias. Sudden death does not
only affect riders’ safety, but also the public opinion on the horse industry in general. Horses are
known to show benign arrhythmias, but the differentiation between benign and dangerous
arrhythmias is often difficult, though very ...
Right ventricular and atrial function in nature’s ultimate athlete: the horse Ghent University
Regular exercise improves health and leads to cardiac remodeling known as the athlete’s heart.
However, emerging data suggest that exercise-related pressure and volume overload may result in
detrimental remodeling of the right ventricle (RV) or atria. This has been linked to arrhythmias and
sudden death in athletes.
In this project, the horse will be used as an animal model for exercise-induced cardiac remodeling as ...
Right ventricular and atrial function in nature’s ultimate athlete: the horse Ghent University
The horse is used as an animal model for exercise-induced right ventricular and atrial remodeling, which has been linked to arrhythmias and sudden death in human athletes. The effect of induced pulmonary hypertension and exercise training on right ventricular and atrial function and structure is investigated using echocardiography, electrocardiography, cardiac biomarkers and myocardial biopsies.
Embryo-maternal interaction in the horse studied via an in vitro model Ghent University
The dialogue of the horse embryo with the maternal genital tract is of the utmost importance for the recognition of pregnancy. By culturing horse embryos with oviduct or endometrium cells in vitro, it may be possible to mimic this dialogue in vitro. This will lead to the establishment of a validated model for oviduct and uterus which provides many possibilities for future research.
Development of a 3D horse oviduct: The solution for equine in vitro fertilization? Ghent University
Since equine fertilization takes place in the oviduct, mimicking the oviductal environment is a logical approach to induce sperm capacitation and to achieve fertilization in vitro. We aim to advance further on an equine 3D cell culture system in which oviduct epithelial cell differentiation is re-established to mimic more closely the physiological environment of the oviduct.
Embryo-maternal interaction in the horse. Ghent University
Compared to in vivo, in vitro equine embryonic development is aberrant. We hypothesized that the lower vitality of the in vitro produced embryos is due to the missing dialogue between the embryo and the maternal genital tract. To mimick this dialogue in a validated in vitro model, we will culture embryos with oviductal cells. This model creates opportunities for further research topics.
Trojan Horse Discourse: The Use and Abuse of Contemporary Constitutional Discourse for Fundamental Rights Protection. University of Antwerp
Biomimetic furan oxidation: a "Trojan Horse" strategy for the formation of covalent protein / protein complexes. Ghent University
Maternal recognition of pregnancy in the horse: are miRNAs the secret messengers? Ghent University
The concept ‘maternal recognition of pregnancy’ (MRP) refers to the physiological events leading to the maintenance of gestation. In the horse, the signal for MRP remains a big mystery, despite several decades of elaborate research. Our general objective is to unravel embryo-maternal communication in the horse through a holistic approach using high-throughput systems biology (transcriptomics-miRNomics-proteomics).