The Comparative Animal Reproduction group (RAC) was initiated in 2012. It is located in the morphology labs at the Institute of Biological Sciences at FURG and in the Animal Reproduction Lab at the UFPel’s Veterinary College. It is directed by Dr. Antonio Sergio Varela Junior (FURG) and Dr. Carine Dahl Corcini (UFPel). It seeks to become a multidisciplinary and multi-institutional group that works in the following research areas:  reproductive biology, reproductive toxicology and cryopreservation of gametes and embryos.

The RAC group studies several animal species, including fishes, mammals and birds. Its research integrates histology, histopathology, morphometric histology, histological stereometry, physiology, biochemistry and toxicology to study animal reproduction. Specifically, the group studies the processes of cell damage and researches conservation alternatives for gametes, using solutions that maximize the biological and economic systems of environmental preservation and animal production. The results of this work have been published in important national and international specialty reproduction and toxicology journals.

A team of supervisors guides master’s and doctoral students taking courses in post-graduate veterinary medicine at UFPel and comparative animal physiology and the biology of aquatic environments at FURG. The group seeks to collaborate on innovative reproduction-based projects with the USA, Canada, Portugal, Spain and France. For more information, the group can be contacted by email at racicbfurg@gmail.com, on Facebook  as Reprodução Animal Comparada RAC FURG or through its website http://www.rac.furg.br/