November 23, 2012

Paving the way for a further career in Poultry Nutrition and Production


Abdollah Akbarian (Joint PhD Student)

Abdollah obtained his Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Animal Science (with Poultry Nutrition as a major) at Kurdistan and Shiraz University (Iran) respectively. Since September 2009 he has been a PhD student at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad (Iran). After the completion of Introductory PhD Courses and examination (as an Honour Student), he was awarded a fellowship grant from Ghent University (Belgium) to pursue and continue his PhD as a Joint Doctoral Researcher under supervision of Prof. Dr. Ir. Stefaan De Smet, Prof. Dr. Ir. Abolghasem Golian and Dr. Ir. Joris Michiels. His research deals with both the oxidative stability of meat and meat products, and with oxidative stress in vivo in farm animals. The specific objectives in this research area are 1/ to get insight in the mechanisms of oxidative stress, 2/ to investigate the potential of natural antioxidants during processing or in the diet for farm animals to improve the oxidative stability of meat and to counteract oxidative stress in vivo. 3/ to get familiar with different gene expression methods (including immunohistochemically, RNA isolation and preparation, hybridization, scanning, Real-time quantitative PCR).
His research has resulted in 2 I.R. patents. He has been awarded several national and international grants for presenting at various congresses and workshops worldwide. He is author or coauthor of several peer-reviewed publications. Abdollah is a team player, with intuitive leadership qualities and he has mastered working in a high-pressure, team environment. It is his absolute ambition to continue working in the field of poultry production.