P. Eckhard Witten

Skeletal Research

From Fossils to Farming: A Boost for Fish Skeletal Research
Disciplines such as Paleontology, Developmental Biology, Evo Devo, Systematics, Morphology, Biomedical Research, Aquaculture Research and Genetics, enrich our knowledge about the Fish Skeleton. Each of this disciplines will progress faster by incorporating the knowledge obtained the other disciplines. To this, the upcoming Journal of Fish Biology volume about Fish Skeletal Biology is a contribution. 16 papers from different disciplines in one volume. Edited by P. Eckhard Witten, Ann Huysseune, John G. Maisey, Christoph Winkler and Zhiyuan Gong. Link to Volume

Research Group Evolutionary Developmental Biology
at Ghent University

UGent EvoDevo Lab Members:
Ann Huysseune, PI (Ann.Huysseune@Ugent.be)
P. Eckhard Witten, PI (peckhardwitten@aol.com)
Mieke Soenens, Lab Management (Mieke.Soenens@UGent.be)
Hilde Van Wynsberge, Office Manage. (Hilde.Vanwynsberge@UGent.be)
Miranda Naert, Course Management (Miranda.Naert@UGent.be)
Daria Larionova, PhD (Daria.Larionova@UGent.be)
Lauren  Sahd, PhD (lauren.sahd22@gmail.com)
Silvia Cotti, cand. PhD (silvia.cotti01@universitadipavia.it)
Lucia Drabikova, cand. PhD (luludrabikova@gmail.com
)
Claudia Dibiagio, cand. PhD (claudia.dibiagio@students.uniroma2.eu)

Associated Scientists
Joana Teixeira Rosa, PhD (Joana.TeixeiraRosa@UGent.be)
Veronika Oralova, PhD (Veronika.Oralova@UGent.be)
Herve Lesot, PhD (Herve.Lesot@UGent.be)
Ana Manuela de Azevedo, PhD (anamanuelade.azevedo@usc.es)
Arianna Martini, PhD (ariannamartini.89@gmail.com)

Development, Plasticity and Remodeling of Skeletal Tissues

Our research focuses on development, plasticity, and remodeling of skeletal tissues; in particular bone, cartilage and teeth of teleost fish. Teleost fish are by far the largest and most diverse group of vertebrates on the planet. Processes are analyzed in a comparative developmental and evolutionary context. For anyone interested in evolution and development, the skeleton is the ideal organ system to study. Skeletal tissues are preserved in the fossil record and they can be analyzed in extant organisms. The group intensely studies the mechanisms underlying continuous tooth replacement in teleosts, we participate in biomedical research and we use our knowledge about fish skeletal tissues to prevent skeletal malformations in farmed fish.

Zebrafish and medaka. Diagnosing skeletal pathologies in small teleost fish
Workshop 1: Basic / Translational Fish as a model for skeletal diseases at ECTS 2018
Link to video  | Length: 27:35 min

The group has current collaborations  with Canada, France, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, USA and the UK.

We organize the intentional conference “Interdisciplinary Approaches in Fish Skeletal Biology (IAFSB.org),  follow the links at the tab “IAFSB conference”

The lab is member of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network (MCSA-ITN) with the primary research aim to create an innovative expertise combining research in skeletal biology of aquaculture fish species with that in biomedical models and humans. In total, 15 PhD students (Early Stage Researchers) have been appointed by the BioMedAqu consortium.

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