Veterinary Oncology Network (VON)

Companion animal oncology is a growing field of research. The past decennia, companion animal veterinary medicine experienced a remarkable evolution, with human medical technologies increasingly finding their applications in veterinary medicine. Vice versa, companion animals develop cancer spontaneously in an intact immune system and represent a valuable and established animal model for human as well as veterinary medicine. 

In order to exploit this unique opportunity at Ghent University, a number of Ghent University veterinary research teams have joined hands to perform veterinary oncology research. 

It is our explicit aim to provide a platform for both the veterinary and the human oncology fields. To this end, we want to catalyze collaborations between labs and clinicians by matching existing technologies with access to clinical samples.

We seek collaboration on 2 levels:

1. Explore targets to improve cancer diagnostics and treatments for companion animals
2. Companion animals as translational models for humans

More information on the research opportunities the VON can offer is listed in the following flyer:

VON FLYER.
 

The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine houses a growing number of researchers with complementary expertise in oncology, as well as with a particular interest in oncology in the One Health context:

• Prof Bart Broeckx (UGent biblio link)
• Prof Koen Chiers (CRIG profile link, UGent biblio link)
• Prof Eric Cox (UGent biblio link)
• Prof Siska Croubels (UGent biblio link)
• Prof Sylvie Daminet (UGent biblio link)
• Prof Mathias Devreese (UGent biblio link)
• Prof Bert Devriendt (UGent biblio link)
• Prof Hilde de Rooster (CRIG profile link, UGent biblio link)
• Prof Ward De Spiegelaere (CRIG profile link, UGent biblio link)
• Prof Ann Martens (CRIG profile link, UGent biblio link) / Dr. Maarten Haspeslagh (CRIG profile link, UGent biblio link)
• Prof Evelyne Meyer (CRIG profile link, UGent biblio link) / Dr. Jonas Steenbrugge (CRIG profile link, UGent biblio link)
• Prof Niek Sanders (CRIG profile link, UGent biblio link)
• Prof Lynn Vanhaecke (CRIG profile link, UGent biblio link) / Dr. Lieselot Hemeryck (CRIG profile link, UGent biblio link)

• General mail address: von@ugent.be
• Dr. Laetitia Cicchelero, coördinator of the UGent IOF Cross-Health platform, also functions as contact point for the VON network:
  Laetitia.Cicchelero@ugent.be (09/331.30.78)
• information about cancer in dogs on the OncoWaf website, an initiative by Laetitia Cicchelero and collaborators.