As a biological scientific community, we have uncovered large amount of evolutionary mechanisms and have developed a lot of tools to study the genome. In this changing world, the evolutionary history and future of species determine their adaptability, and to expose this adaptability we can use genomic tools. My scientific passion lies in the application of evolution and genomics for conservation purposes, and communicating scientific results to people able to apply those insights. My PhD is part of a large international collaboration trying to use ecology and evolution to study the susceptibility of European wild boar to African Swine Fever.
Niek Wouter Gijsbert Barmentlo, MSc
PhD Candidate, Faculty of Science, Ecology & Evolution
Countries in Europe, Asia and Africa are currently trying to manage the ongoing African Swine Fever (ASF) epidemic. The scientific community currently does not properly understand (1) the immune responses against the causative virus, (2) the specific role of wild boar as disease reserves, (3) and the environmental and behavioral factors influencing population susceptibility to the disease. These remaining questions strongly limit the proper management of this disease. In order to assess naïve wild boar populations for susceptibility, I use a combination of ecological and evolutionary theory, genomics, transcriptomics, body condition measurements and immunoassays. The goal is to find predictive factors for susceptibility to be able to make risk assessments for naïve populations.
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Keywords
- Evolutionary Genomics, Ecoimmunology, Ecology, Transcriptomics, Adaptation
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