Projects
Habitat utilization, population dynamics of rodents and potential for transmission of zoonoses in agro-ecosystems and human settlements in the Tigrey region, Northern Ethiopia. University of Antwerp
Data-driven brain and heart PET imaging of awake rodents. University of Antwerp
The Neural Basis of Visual Learning: Behavior and Electrophysiology in Rodents KU Leuven
In the past mostly primate models have been used to study high-level visual processing combined with human fMRI studies. Over the past years rodent models have gained more importance in studying visual processing, this has led to evidence of functional specialization within different regions of visual cortex. Our lab has evidence that suggest that rats are capable of higher-level visual processing. During my PhD I will try to gain further ...
New computational approaches for analysis of brain-wide volumetric functional ultrasound imaging in behaving rodents KU Leuven
Neuroscientists increasingly use virtual reality (VR) environments to simulate natural events and social interactions. VR creates interactive, multimodal sensory stimuli that offer unique advantages over other approaches to research in rodents. VR's compatibility with imaging technologies such as functional ultrasound imaging (fUSI) allows researchers to perform experiments with a high degree of ecological validity and control while recording ...
Co-infections, heterogeneity and behaviour: models and real rodents. University of Antwerp
Comparison of skull shape versus bite force in two independent lineages of subterranean mole-rat rodents (Bathyergidae versus Spalacidae) Ghent University
Rodents living underground originated in multiple lineages during evolution. Two of them being mole-rats from Africa (Bathyergidae) and from the Middle East (Spalacidae). Both species show distinct adaptations to powerful biting, using teeth to dig tunnel systems. In this project, convergent modification in the skull shape in relation to biting performance will be studied.
Electrophysiological and biochemical characterization of cognitive flexibility in rodents KU Leuven
This PhD project will focus on uncovering the electrophysiological and biochemical mechanisms underlying cognitive flexibility and reversal learning in rodents. Investigating cognitive flexibility provides information on how the brain adapts to a dynamic environment. The project consists of two major components. The first part focuses on communication within and between different brain regions (e.g., prefrontal cortex and hippocampus) during ...
Going viral: Using novel technology to explore contact behaviour and transmission dynamics in small rodents. University of Antwerp
Effect of locomotion on neural activity and adaptation in the visual cortex of rodents. KU Leuven
Stimulus repetition is seemingly always paralleled by attenuation of neural activity in the brain areas involved in processing of that stimulus. This is so-called neural adaptation or repetition suppression. Neural adaptation has been observed in a wide range of brain areas, across different sensory modalities and at multiple spatial scales. Despite a rich body of literature on adaptation, its underlying neural mechanisms and functional ...