Current projects

Core projects

• Development of an alternative testing strategy for the fish early-life stage test for predicting chronic toxicity: assay validation
  PI: Dries Knapen
  Co-PIs: Gerald Ankley (US EPA), Dan Villeneuve (US EPA), Hilda Witters (VITO), Ronny Blust, Lucia Vergauwen
  Grant Holder: Evelyn Stinckens
  Funding: Cefic-LRI

• The impact of endocrine disruption on vertebrate embryonic and larval development
  PI: Dries Knapen
  Co-PIs: Lucia Vergauwen, Alexander van Nuijs
  Grant Holder: Jelena Periz Stanaćev
  Funding: UAntwerp - BOF

• Development of a zebrafish embryo test for environmental risk assessment of pharmaceuticals with estrogenic properties
  PI: Dries Knapen
  Co-PI: Steven Van Cruchten
  Grant Holder: Ellen Michiels
  Funding: IWT

• Influence of temperature on bioactivation and embryotoxicity in a modified Zebrafish developmental toxicity assay
  PI: Steven Van Cruchten
  Co-PI: Dries Knapen
  Grant Holder: Casper Pype
  Funding: UAntwerp - BOF

• Development of a method for testing of transgenic rational effects of genetically modified crops in food on the basis of the zebrafish model
  PI: Dries Knapen
  Co-PIs: Marc De Loose (ILVO), Mia Eeckhout (UGent), Sarah De Saeger (UGent), Ronny Blust
  Grant Holder: Isabelle Gabriëls
  Funding: FPS Health, Food chain safety and Environment

• Unravelling the non-specific mechanisms underlying non-polar narcotic toxicity: mitochondrial effects
  PI: Ronny Blust
  Co-PI: Dries Knapen
  Grant Holder: TBA
  Funding: FWO

• Reaction phenotyping and CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing of xenobiotic CYP isoenzymes in the zebrafish embryo: effects on bioactivation of prodrugs and normal functioning
  PI: Steven Van Cruchten
  Grant Holder: Chloe Bars
  Funding: UAntwerp - BOF

• Comparison of nano-injection and aquatic exposure in fish embryo tests: can differences in toxicity be explained by accumulation kinetics?
  PI: Lucia Vergauwen
  Funding: UAntwerp - BOF

Supporting projects

• Modular confocal microscopy platform with light sheet illumination
  PI: Jean-Pierre Timmermans
  Co-PIs: Dirk Adriaensen, Guido De Meyer, Winnok De Vos, Patrick D'Haese, Michele Giugliano, Albena Jordanova, Georgios Keliris, Dries Knapen, Stuart Maudsley, Peter Ponsaerts, Vincent Timmerman, Kris Vissenberg
  Funding: Hercules Foundation

• Next generation sequencing technology opening new frontiers in biological and medical research
  PI: Geert Mortier
  Co-PIs: Gerrit Beemster, Ronny Blust, Herman Goossens, Dries Knapen, Kris Laukens, Marc Peeters, Wim Van Hul, Christiaan Vrints
  Funding: Hercules Foundation

• ENVIROMICS, environment toxicology and technology for a durable world. Development and application of diagnostic instruments for industry and policy
  PI: Ronny Blust
  Co-PIs: Peter Bols, Adrian Covaci, Karolien De Wael, Koen Janssens, Dries Knapen, Silvia Lenaerts, Patrick Meire, Roeland Samson
  Funding: UAntwerp - RIOFI

• Equipment for high-speed refrigerated, preparative ultracentrifugation, automated gradient formation and fraction collection and analysis
  PI: Louis Maes
  Co-PIs: Guido De Meyer, Peter Delputte, Sylvia Dewilde, Samir Kumar-Singh, Anne-Marie Lambeir, Sarah Lebeer, Jo Leroy, Steven Van Cruchten, Wim Wenseleers
  Funding: Hercules Foundation

Past projects

• An alternative testing strategy for the fish early life-stage test using the adverse outcome pathway (AOP) framework
  PI: Dries Knapen
  Award Winner: Evelyn Stinckens
  Funding: SETAC - Procter & Gamble Award

• A functional study of the mechanisms underlying sex differentiation in zebrafish
  PI: Lucia Vergauwen
  Funding: UAntwerp - BOF

• Zebrafish embryos to elucidate the role of thyroid hormones in vertebrate embryonic development
  PI: An Hagenaars
  Co-PI: Dries Knapen
  Funding: UAntwerp - BOF

• Optimalisation of the biotransformation in the Zebrafish Teratogenicity Test
  PI: Steven Van Cruchten
  Co-PI: Dries Knapen
  Grant Holder: Casper Pype
  Funding: UAntwerp - BOF

• Development of an alternative testing strategy for the fish early-life stage test for predicting chronic toxicity
  PI: Dries Knapen
  Co-PIs: Gerald Ankley (US EPA), Hilda Witters (VITO), Ronny Blust
  Grant Holder: Evelyn Stinckens
  Funding: Cefic-LRI

• Ontogeny of cytochrome P450 activity in the zebrafish: an in vitro investigation
  PI: Steven Van Cruchten
  Grant Holder: Moayad Saad
  Funding: UAntwerp - BOF

• Advancing the zebrafish embryo as a model system in epigenomics – a study on the importance of DNA methylation dynamics in teratogenicity
  PI: Dries Knapen
  Funding: UAntwerp - BOF

• Ontogeny of CYPs and drug transporters in the gastrointestinal tract of zebrafish
  PI: Steven Van Cruchten
  Co-PI: Paul Cos
  Grant Holder: Moayad Saad
  Funding: EU-JOSYLEEM

• A functional genomics study in zebrafish to elucidate the role of thyroid hormones and deiodinases in early emryonic development
  PI: Veerle Darras (KULeuven)
  Co-PIs: Ronny Blust, Dries Knapen
  Grant Holder: Enise Bagci
  Funding: FWO

• A system biological analysis of metal induced responses in the zebrafish
  PI: Ronny Blust
  Co-PI: Dries Knapen
  Funding: FWO

• Effect of temperature on metal toxicity to zebrafish: from gene to organismal responses
  PI: Ronny Blust
  Co-PI: Dries Knapen
  Grant Holder: Lucia Vergauwen
  Funding: FWO

• Toxicodynamics of microcontaminants in relation to temperature and energy status in the zebrafish, Danio rerio: from gene to organismal responses
  PI: Ronny Blust
  Grant Holder: Lucia Vergauwen
  Funding: FWO

• Genetic adaptation to heavy metals in the zebrafish (Danio rerio): development of toxicant specific type I microsatellite markers
  PI: Ronny Blust
  Grant Holder: Dries Knapen
  Funding: IWT