University of Groningen

Neuroprotective signaling mechanisms in the mammalian brainDolga, Amalia Mihaela

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Publication date:2008

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Citation for published version (APA):Dolga, A. M. (2008). Neuroprotective signaling mechanisms in the mammalian brain. s.n.

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Acknowledgements

166 Acnkowledgements

My voyage started when I moved from Timisoara to Bremen, a flat and rainycounty, but with warm people. In Timisoara, there are some special people that Iwould like to acknowledge here and these are Prof. Vasile Ostafe and Acad. Prof.Zeno Simon. Thank you for your guidance during my Bachelor diploma and duringmy master studies. When I think of Bremen the first images that come to mind areconnected with Karen Strenge and Soerge Kelm. Thank you for your patience andfor all your support during my master studies. Thank you as well to Prof. Blohm,in who’s lab I learned several DNA-related techniques. The voyage kept a constantline, taking me to Groningen, in The Netherlands, another flat and rainy region.Prof. Paul Luiten guided me and kept my eyes open to channel a diverging researchline into a coherent and “round story”. I am grateful that you are my promoterand I appreciate all your support over the years. For your supervision, comments,suggestions, critics, for the helpful tips in the lab, for the scientific discussions andfor the long and interesting talks about the origin of different German/English words,thank you, Ulrich Eisel. Thank you as well for offering me a great deal of freedom inthinking and planning the experiments. This freedom, though scary in the beginningof the project, allowed me to mature and to become the scientist that I am today.

I thank the members of the Reading Committee: Carsten Culmsee, MartinaSchmidt and Erik Boddeke for their time, effort and fast response. Martina, thankyou for your criticism and all your great comments and suggestions. Our ‘baby-manuscript’ discussions taught me a lot. It was a pleasure working with you and Ihope that in the future we will extend our fruitful collaboration. Carsten, thank youalso for accepting me in your enthusiastic group, for all wonderful discussions that wehad and will have.

Special gratitude for a special person, Ingrid, for all her guidance, support, kind-ness and the insightful discussions we had. The new and elaborate ways of thinkingabout research planning and implementation you taught me made my scientific lifeeasier. All these were possible after I met you, Ingrid. Thank you for all this and formuch more. . .

Courtesy of the Graduate School of Behavioral and Cognitive Neurosciences (BCN)I could follow interesting courses and meet nice colleagues and future collaborators.Special thanks to the Animal Physiology Department members, from whom I havelearned most of the techniques described in this thesis. Eddy van der Zee and CsabaNyakas, thank you for your comments and suggestions concerning animal behav-ior experiments. I would like to thank Peter Meerlo for nice suggestions and forour long and interesting discussions. Furthermore, many thanks to Arianna Novati,Girstaute Dagyte, Roelina Hagewoud, Henriette Hulshof, Alinde Wallinga, DorrettaCaramaschi, Deepa Natarajan, Jose Vidal for not failing to make me smile and laugh.Thank you, Joke Poelstra and Henk Visscher for helping me with the papers andtravel expenses for the national and international conferences.

Having a nice and smooth working atmosphere in a big lab is always a challenge.However, thanks to Marije Lowik, Jan Keijser, Jan Gast and Josee Plantinga, work-

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ing in the lab was quite pleasant. Thank you, Marije, for taking care of orderingand helping me with the cell culture lab. Jan K, always strict in the maintenanceof the “Western blot” lab, made working there easier. Thank you also for the tech-nical discussions and for all the work that you put in setting up “macros” for nicebut difficult stainings. Jaap Bouwer, thank you for maintaining so many differenttransgenic mouse lines and for helping me with that very important “day 14” of themouse pregnancy.

All these 4 years of the PhD period were pleasant and full of nice moments. Thankyou to all my officemates, Karin van der Borght, Viktor Roman, Robbert Havekes,Ivica Granic, Timur Cetin and Nikoletta Dobos. Karin, thank you for showing me thenice facet of the dutch culture and for all the “women” talks we had. Viktor, thank youfor all the discussions about adenosine receptors, about paintings and classical music.Thank you for being friendly and making my “accommodation” period a pleasant one.You brought a cheerful and buoyant atmosphere in the room. Robbert, always fidgetyand with a very fast way of talking, you brought a restless and creative atmospherein the room that many times led to lively and insightful discussions. Timur, youamazed me how agile you could be with all the wires. Good luck with optimizing therecordings and hope to see you in Marburg in October. Nikoletta, thank you for thenice painting. I wish you a lot of success in optimizing the protocols for microgliacultures and in getting nice results with them.

Ivi, it was a real pleasure working with you, even when we had our ‘scientific fights’that often ended in compromises. I can’t help but smiling when I remember yourlatest request ‘Can I, can I be the first?’ Our ‘V&D meetings’ were very fruitful froma scientific point of view and quite delicious from a culinary point of view. I rememberwith pleasure how we scientifically matured together and all the conferences that weattended. You made me feel welcomed and truly at home during these 4 PhD years.Many thanks for your friendship and, of course, many thanks to lovely Gonzo. . .

I thank as well all my students: Arlette Kouwenhoven, Hidde van den Akker,Jasper Steggink, Quirine ten Bosch, Thomas Vieth, Wandert Schaafsma, Tim deJager, Bettie Atsma, Wouter Bosma and Peter van der Most. Thank you Marco deBruyn for your friendship and our long and interesting scientific discussions. It isalways fun and challenging to find new bridges between several aspects of science.

I owe special thanks to all the collaborators. The first thank you goes to KnutBiber and his group from the Medical Physiology Department, University of Gronin-gen: Rob Bakels, Alexander de Haas, Hilmar van Weering, Sander, Eiko de Jong,Falak Sher, Shamsudheen Moidunny, Marjolein Hensens, Evelin Wesseling. It wasa pleasure working with you. I am so glad that we collaborated, Maria Alvez andRobert Hofstra. Special thanks go to Angelika Bierhaus, for all your support, nicesuggestions and discussions about RAGE signaling. I appreciate a lot our collabora-tion and I hope that we could extend it in the future. Thomas Blank, thank you foryour suggestions and discussions.

Koenito, wonderful friend and amazing listener! I enjoyed all the moments we

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spent together, all the long walks, nice dinners and insightful discussions about cul-ture, music, psychology and neurobiology.

Anghel, ai fost un coleg si un prieten minunat. In laborator, am apreciat precizia sirapiditatea ta. Goana dupa “the best shot”, uneori m-a amuzat, dar panoramele talearata superb. Ma bucur ca ai putut veni ın Groningen. Gratarele, lungile plimbari ıncomunitate cu bicicletele, Flower parade, badmington, bataia cu bulgari de zapada,carnatii, cozonacii, ouale rosii de Paste si cinele copioase ın Comunitate. . . toate aces-tea ımi amintesc de tine si de Oana. Multumesc pentru toate momentele placutepetrecute ımpreuna. Oana, multumesc pentru prietenia ta.

Lavinia, ıti multumesc pentru opinia critica generala, pentru entuziasmul tau ınzilele cu soare sau zapada, pentru ca ai fost catalizatorul “Comunitatii”, pentrusambetele si lungile seri ın care despicam “dialectul” moldovenesc si pe cel ardele-nesc ascultand ”Si/ de ce/ plang/ chitarele/ baietii/ cateodata” si asteptand ceva“Noutati”.

Cristi, multumesc pentru lungile discutii, pentru diminetile cu minunata cafea sipentru serile cand ıncercam sa gatim sofisticat. Iti multumesc ca ai fost aproape ınultimele luni de stress, pentru ca mi-ai oferit o mare satisfactie ıntelegand sensurileacestei teze, pentru critica si tot suportul ın lupta dintre Windows, Mac si Linux.Esti un prieten adevarat.

Inspiratie, dorinta de perfectiune, sentimentul de “totul este posibil” si putereade a trece peste momentele dificile, toate acestea ti le datorez tie, Adi. Multumescpentru sprijinul, constanta prezenta, ceaiul, prajitura de mere si cartile ce-mi hraneaucortexul. Ma bucur nespus ca te-am cunoscut ın anul III. Multumesc Doamnei siDomnului Stan pentru ıncrederea si optimismul pe care mi l-au inspirat. Sunteti siveti ramane aproape de sufletul meu.

Draga Gabi si Cristi, va multumesc pentru dragostea voastra si pentru ca ati fostalaturi de mine.

Iti multumesc, draga Mica Lili pentru puterea si ıncrederea ta, pentru curajul dea ma lasa sa decid. A fost greu departe de casa si de tine, dar dragostea ta m-a ajutatsi m-a alinat ın momentele de indecizie. Dragostea noastra puternica m-a calauzitmereu, chiar daca distanta era un impediment. Te iubesc, draga Mama!

Iti multumesc, draga Tata, pentru tot suportul si dragostea ta, pentru ambitia pecare mi-ai inspirat-o. Ai fost mereu alaturi de mine si mi-ai aratat ca vointa poateınvinge nesiguranta, iar dragostea ta poate ınvinge orice neputinta. Sunt ceea ce m-aiinspirat sa fiu!