WIAS grant for Myrthe Gilbert to visit the University of Queensland

At the Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences of the University of Queensland, research is conducted on the effects of feeding different dietary fibers on insulin sensitivity of pigs (as a model for humans). Myrthe will contribute in laboratory and data analyses, to better understand the mechanisms underlying the effect of fibers on insulin sensitivity. This will enable her to compare insulin sensitivity results between animal species which will be of added value for the project ‘Replacing lactose by processed plant polysaccharides for calf nutrition’ and will contribute to her development as a researcher. If all the preparations go according to plan, she will visit Australia in September 2014.

Myrthe is a PhD scholar at the Animal Nutrition Group and her PhD project is part of a larger project, which is partly funded by the Carbohydrate Competence Center. Within this project, scientific partners (University Medical Center Groningen and Food Chemistry of Wageningen University) closely collaborate with commercial companies (the VanDrie Group and Tereos) to develop innovate new concepts in animal nutrition. Myrthe’s project focuses on the possibilities of using carbohydrates of plant origin for veal calf nutrition. One aim within this project is to determine the effects of feeding different carbohydrates on insulin sensitivity in veal calves.