WIAS magazine 3rd edition - Spring 2022

WIAS magazine aims to strengthen the community of WIAS PhDs & Post-Docs, because Science connects us all. We do this by offering a platform to showcase the amazing work being performed under the WIAS umbrella and combine this with a personal touch. 

The number of articles and editions keep on growing. Read our latest articles in our Spring 2022 edition, published in May 2022.

Inside insight - Advice from the three prize winners of the WIAS annual conference 2022

WIAS Magazine - Spring 2022 edition
Word from the board

Every year WIAS hosts its annual conference (WAC) and thankfully this year we were allowed to have the WAC in-person again! The conference is a one-day event that aims to bring together PhD-candidates, staff, and researchers from different fields to promote and present research while encouraging collaboration across the field of animal sciences. As the editors of WIAS magazine we are very excited about the WAC because just like this magazine the conference is a platform for sharing the science that connects us all. The conference highlights the best of what WIAS has to offer in the form of oral presentations, poster pitches and poster presentations. Every year there is a prize for each of these categories and this year we interviewed the winners in each, they shared with us a tip that helped them get their award.

It takes 22 to tango: Interleukin-22 in intestinal health and disease in zebrafish

WIAS Magazine - Spring edition 2022
Research Overview

Key words: Zebrafish, interleukin-22, immunology, microbiota, metabolism, intestinal health

Just like our skin, our intestinal (gut) epithelium is the barrier between us and the outside world. A proper functioning of this barrier is key to protect against unwanted translocation of pathogenic bacteria. A compromised barrier is associated with diseases in both livestock and humans, such as enteritis and inflammatory bowel disease, but also obesity. Maintaining a healthy barrier is therefore key to disease prevention.

Beat the clock: Speeding up the improvement of manure management at Indonesian smallholder dairy farms

WIAS Magazine - Spring edition 2022
Research highlight

Key words: Manure management, smallholder dairy farms, environmental emissions

Improper manure management at smallholder dairy farms can be a problem, but how significant the impacts are unknown. An evaluation of environmental emissions associated with manure management at multiple levels can help speed up the improvement of manure management at Indonesian smallholder dairy farms. Here we identify the major causes of emissions related to manure management and suggest potential improvements.

How a glass of milk can reveal the efficiency of the dairy cows that produced it

WIAS Magazine - Spring edition 2022
Research Light

Key words: Nitrogen use efficiency, mid-infrared spectra, environment, prediction, dairy cow

Can you imagine that nitrogen loss of dairy cows could be reduced by utilizing the information from their milk? In the past few months, a joint research team of Wageningen University and China Agricultural University managed to predict the nitrogen use efficiency of individual dairy cows in China using mid-infrared spectra from milk. With this methodology, we can breed more efficient cows to minimize nitrogen loss, and further protect our environment.

Will you help us find tags from the beach so we can learn more about Skate behaviour?

WIAS Magazine - Spring edition 2022
Research Light

Key words: Conservation, DST, migration, nursery areas, rays and skates

By using data storage tags, researchers from Wageningen University can look into distribution and migration patterns of skates in the North Sea. For the next two years, you can be a part of our research. Skates are particularly vulnerable to human activities at sea because of their slow growth rates and the low numbers of eggs they produce each year. Learning about their migrations and nursery areas can help take appropriate management measures to ensure their conservation.

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