Blindengeleidehonden ken je wel. Maar je hebt ook hoorhonden voor dove mensen. En epilepsiehonden. En autismehonden. Wie zo'n assistentiehond nodig heeft, moet daar meestal lang op wachten. Want niet elke hond is geschikt en van elke 10 puppy's die worden opgeleid tot assistentiehond, worden er maar 4 goedgekeurd.
Veel tijd en geld gaat zo verloren. UGent-dierenarts en geneticus Bart Broeckx zoekt hiervoor een oplossing in het DNA van mogelijke hondenouders. Zo kan hij nog vóór hondjes geboren worden voorspellen of het geschikte assistentiehonden kunnen worden!
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When in evolution did hair and nails originate? Ghent University researcher Kris Vleminckx shows that the genetic program to create human hair is at least 50 million years older than currently assumed.
Baby boom in the veterinary clinic thanks to Professor Ann Van Soom
Artificial reproduction methods, such as IVF and ICSI, have already been successfully applied in humans. But this has not been the case for many domestic animals. In horses, for instance, it has seemed to be an impossible task for a long time to fertilise the eggs outside the body. Until Ann Van Soom and her team started focusing on it.
These two students want to make a better world with sustainable dog food
What started as an exercise for a group work during their business engineering course is today, barely two years later, in 35 shops in our country. With Gutsy, Jack Lathouwers and Achilles Hannecart want to offer food that is healthy for your dog, but also for the planet.
Many assistance dogs are rejected before they can even embark on their ‘job’
Only forty per cent of assistance dogs in training actually end up becoming a proper assistance dog. This problem not only causes long waiting lists, it also costs a lot of money. A collaboration, in the form of a professorship between professor Bart Broeckx and the non-profit organisation Purpose Dogs aims to find a solution.
