Research in the BIOREC Doctoral College collectively aims at understanding the role hormones play in regulating the effect cascades which translate environmental changes into fitness related changes through phenotypic variability in vertebrates. We are particularly interested in the stress response as indicated by "Endocrinological and fitness related stress profiles" in a set of in vitro and in vivo vertebrate models relevant in reproductive and developmental biomedical research.

In these studies a variety of techniques (biochemistry, histology and histochemistry, in vitro cell, tissue and embryo culture, and biometry) will be employed. We will study shorter term stress responses particularly in domestic livestock mammals (horses, cows, sheep) and birds (chick), and longer term responses particularly in guinea pigs, amphibians and fish.

Research units involved in the projects:

Animal Breeding and Genetics
Animal Husbandry and Animal Welfare
Aquatic Ecotoxicology
Artificial Insemination and Embryo Transfer
Biochemistry
Anatomy, Histology and Embryology
Wildlife and Ecology