Miscellaneous

GhEnToxLab at SETAC Nashville

setaclogo2 thumb100 The Ghent University Laboratory for Environmental Toxicology will be presenting some of its research at the SETAC North America 34th Annual Meeting in Nashville, TN from 17-21 November 2013. Come and see us at the following dates and places:

 

Building bridges across research disciplines

Exciting times are coming for the Artemia Research Community. On September 2nd, the fully sequenced genome of Artemia will be presented on the Artemia Genome Workshop. Artemia is considered a model crustacean in aquaculture just as Daphnia is considered the model crustacean in freshwater. On the Artemia Genome day, LMAE will contribute to both the presentations as well as the scientific discussion. LMAE will share her knowledge and experience on the Daphnia genome to the broad Artemia research community. Hence, LMAE will strengthen its ongoing collaboration with the Laboratory of Aquaculture and continue to facilitate cross-fertilizations between these different research domains, e.g. the AquaStress project!

More information (Dutch): Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University

Mini symposium ecological, evolutionary and ecotoxicological genomics

On September 13th, 2013 Prof. Karel De Schamphelaere organizes a free mini symposium on "evolutionary, ecological and ecotoxicological genomics", which will take place at the faculty of Bioscience Engineering, UGent (Coupure Links 653, 9000 Gent). Three internationally renowned speakers will provide an overview of how the rapid developments of high-throughput genomics and DNA sequencing technologies help to improve our understanding of the ecology, evolution and ecotoxicology of species in a rapidly changing world and how this enables novel applications. More information can be found on the flyer. Everyone interested is cordially invited.

Excellent report for our lab!

A new, independent analysis of the research performance – based on scientific output – of all Ugent faculties, departments and research groups has just been released.
Here is the bottom line: we rank among the top 5 research groups of our faculty in terms of number and impact of papers. Our papers have a significantly higher impact compared to the world average in our research field and all other criteria also indicate the excellent performance of the Environmental Toxicology group.

Interuniversitary Advanced Master programme 'Technology for Integrated Water Management'

watertechnologylogoThe Interuniversitary Advanced Master programme 'Technology for Integrated Water Management' which is promoted by our research group, received a very positive evaluation from the visitation commission. The commission stated that the programme clearly succeeds in delivering high quality education in domains linked to integrated water management. Information about the programme and practical information for prospective students can be found at  http://www.watertechnology.be/.

Prof. Karel De Schamphelaere appointed as the Belgian representative for the ‘expert group on invertebrate toxicity testing’

logooecd enThe OECD Test Guideline Program coordinates the development and publication of standardized test protocols (such as ecotoxicity tests) to enable hazard and risk assessment of chemical substances. Prof. Karel De Schamphelaere has recently been appointed by the Belgian Government Operational Directorate on Public Health and Surveillance as the Belgian representative for the OECD 'expert group on invertebrate ecotoxicity testing', which involves experts from several OECD countries. He will there contribute to discussions on ongoing and upcoming projects (such as life-cycle and multigenerational test systems with invertebrate species – one of the important research areas in our laboratory). In this regard, he will attend the upcoming meeting of the expert group at the OECD headquarters in Paris on 17-18 June, 2013.

LMAE at SETAC Europe

setaclogo2 thumb medium50 75The research group Environmental Toxicology will be presenting its research at the 23rd SETAC Europe Annual Meeting in Glasgow, UK from 12-16 May 2013. We will highlight our reserach in a total of four platforms, one poster corner and nine posters. To keep track of us during the conference, to download posters or to read more information, go to our dedicated SETAC webpage.

LMAE at PRIMO

Our lab will be represented at the 17th PRIMO meeting (Pollutant Responses In Marine Organisms), 5th - 8th May 2013 in Faro, Portugal. More information can be found at the conference website: http://www.cima.ualg.pt/primo17/.  There will be three posters and one platform presentation.

Prof. Janssen elected Chair of EU Committee SCHER

eu logo enOn 11 and 12 April 2013, the first meeting of the newly appointed EU Scientific Committee SCHER took place in Luxembourg. After a rigorous selection procedure - i.e. there were more than 400 candidates - based on criteria such as scientific excellence and independence, Prof. Janssen was appointed as one of the 11 members of SCHER (Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks). Committee members are appointed for a three-year term and will provide the Commission with independent scientific advice on issues relating to consumer safety, public health and the environment. Following his appointment Prof. Janssen was then elected by SCHER members to serve as Chair of the Committee.

More information on SCHER and the inaugural meeting: http://ec.europa.eu/health/scientific_committees/events/ev_20130411_en.htm#pics.

scher cj

Dr. ir. Frederik De Laender joined the Young Academy

jongeacademie Recently, the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium decided to establish a Young Academy. Forty young researchers, amongst whom Frederik De Laender of our lab, have joined the Young Academy. They were selected from as many as 146 high-potential candidates who responded to the call for membership. These young researchers have three objectives: (international) interdisciplinary research, reflection about the current science policy, and science communication to the youth. Congratulations, Frederik!

Update: In total 13 researchers of Ghent University were selected. More information: http://www.ugent.be/nl/actueel/nieuws/ugent-jonge-academie.htm (Dutch)

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