HD4A.eu

Ghent University is an internationally renowned, open, pluralistic and socially engaged university in Belgium, founded in 1817. Ghent University has 11 faculties. Currently, it hosts 50000 students and has 15000 employees. It holds a portfolio of over 1,100 patents and 76 spin-offs. In Belgium, Ghent University is in Ghent, Courtrai, Bruges and Ostend. Ghent University Global Campus is the first European university in Songdo, South Korea. The University has institutional partnerships with Macquarie University and the University of Queensland (Australia), the University of Toronto (Canada), as well as Harvard University and the University of California at Berkeley (USA). Ghent University also has several regional platforms.

At Ghent University, the Laboratory of Functional Plant Biology (Department of Biology), is involved in HealthyDiets4Africa.

For more information, visit: UGent

In the project, Ghent University is involved in the following tasks:

– Complement food composition data: vitamin analyses

– Novel food items: vitamin analyses

– Develop nutrient-enhanced rice by metabolic engineering

A first contribution involves analyzing the nutritional composition of underutilized local crops to determine their dietary value. The resulting insights hold great potential for promoting the consumption of such crops, thereby diversifying the local alimentation, and addressing the shortage of essential micronutrients of the current diet. An additional contribution entails the development of multi-biofortified rice lines. More specifically, we are dedicated to enhancing the levels of vitamin A, folate, and iron in rice.