University of Groningen
Toxic love
Rouhana, Jessy
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Publication date: 2019
Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database
Citation for published version (APA):
Rouhana, J. (2019). Toxic love: Evolutionary genomics of the enigmatic Sex Peptide. University of Groningen.
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This work required the help of many interesting and loving people, and I would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who contributed with their time, knowledge and effort throughout this PhD.
First and foremost a huge thanks to my supervisors, Professor Tracey Chapman and
Professor Bregje Wertheim. “The teacher, if he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter
the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind” (Khalil
Gibran). I couldn’t ask for a better supervision team, you both have been a great inspiration
and the best role models not only for your scientific knowledge but also for your extraordinary human qualities, and I am so lucky to work with you. To Bregje, you are the kindest most helpful and understanding person I know. I want you to start by thanking you for putting your trust in me scientifically and chosing me to be in your team, I hope I did make you proud. A lot of unexpected life changing events happened during these 4 years, thank you for standing with me through my most difficult time and the most wonderful time, and I am grateful that you were there to help me get back on my feet. Thank you so much for your support, for your availability for all the knowledge you gave me (especially in R), and the hours and hours of Skype meeting during my mom time. To Tracey, I am full of admiration for you, that sometimes I felt intimidated. You are so devoted, so passionate and always encouraging it was contagious, I wanted to give the best of me. I enjoyed working with you, and I want to thank you for giving me support, confidence and encouragement to develop independently. I know I made you raise your eyebrows few times and I am really sorry for that, I blame cultural differences. I hope our future collaboration would be as fruitful as this PhD was.
My acknowledgment to the assessment committee Prof. Jean Christoph Billeter, Prof.
David Richardson, Prof. Mariana Wolfner, Prof. Clive Wilson thank you for taking the
time to read and evaluate my thesis. I hope you enjoyed reading it.I would like to express my gratitude to the defence committee members for accepting to take part in the PhD graduation ceremony
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I also would like to thank Prof. Leo Beukeboom and Prof. Louis Van de Zande, for giving me constructive suggestions during the EGDB meeting.
A Special thank you to Prof. Jean Christoph Billeter for welcoming me to your group meeting in my first PhD year. I always enjoyed our chat and I am thankful that you took time to meet with me and give me input and suggestions, you are the reason why we did control of the control of the control on each mating assays.
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To my paranymphs, Kirsten Jalvin and Wayne Rostant, first thank you for accepting this hard task to stand by my side on one of the most important day of my life. Kirsten you were the best office mate a girl could have, you are so friendly and loving person that it was so easy to connect with you. You gave me confidence during the start of my PhD, and also finger arthritis from all the shoulder poking. Thank you for not revealing my browser history to Bregje, when I was innocently trying to write my introductory essay, we both knew this kind of traumatic images were for work, google didn’t know better. Wayne I will never forget the hours and hours we spent picking flies and laughing until crying in the fly lab, I am still not sure if it was the CO2 fumes or my cultural craziness whatever it was I am still remembering and laughing at some of these events. You helped me with the statistics without hesitation, I was always so impressed how easily you managed these intense statistics. Beside the work you are a great person and a good friend you always helped me out with your wise advices. And Wayne one last thing…. Pineapple.
To my friend Elena Dalla Benetta, you are a strong determined person and I know one day you will achieve a something great. You have been a role model not just as a scientist but also as a mom and as a person. I always felt so close to you having so much in common including a birthday. You have been a wonderful friend and in my worst days you were there to give me strength. Thanks to you I didn’t give up on my dream and I am ever so grateful, really you have no idea how grateful I am to you. I do miss you and hoped you would be here.
My UK colleague, Emily, Elizabeth, Janet, Will, Wayne, Jean Charle, Ben, Mike D,
Mike B, Damian, Stuart, Naomi, Phil, Becky and Kris I want to thank all of you for
literally standing with me for hours without ends helping me with the mating assays, I really couldn’t have done it without you. To Janet Mason, I reckon that you are the funniest friendliest person I ever met, I really enjoyed all the time we spent together, thank you for being my friend and for teaching me a lot of new English words. To Emily Fowler, thank you for always helping me and for sharing your molecular experiences. And thank you to all my office mates and all the friendly people I worked and encountered during my PhD time in the UK.
A huge thank you to my Dutch Colleague, Elzemiek, Sylvia, Martijn, Marcella, Yanli,
Marloes Aurore, Xuan, Yuan Pina, Peter and Astrid for making the PhD life interesting
and full of excitement. A special thank you to Rogier for always helping me and for preparing the thousands and thousands of food vials. A huge thank you to Anna, for being the best lab manager, you are so helpful, friendly and willing to help solve any molecular problems. To my friend Jenke, thank you for all the lovely time we shared and all the advices you gave me about parenthood. Also thank you Monika, for being the voice of reason and a good friend. I want to also thank Emma and Corine for giving me advice and always helping me with all the bureaucracy.
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To my Parents Zeina Antoun and Jean Rouhana, you are the start of it all. I am very lucky to have encouraging mom and dad, regardless of the circumstances we lived in you gave me the best education and the most loving environments, all my accomplishment are results of your good education. You taught me to believe in myself and to always say the truth no matter how hard that could be, and to always believe in myself. To mom, thank you for giving me your strong personality, and for always loving me and encouraging me to go after my dream. To my dad, I know how important it was for you that we enter university and get the best education. I want to thank you for pushing me to be the strong woman I am today, and I really wish you were here to see what I have become. To my sister Carine
Rouhana, you have been there from the day I was born, growing up you were an
inspiration and a wonderful role model, I always looked up to you. Thank you for all the support, encouragement and love you gave me throughout the years.
And most important thank you is to my husband and my son, for being the reasons I look forward to the next day, and to whom I dedicate this thesis. To my husband Stephan
Schurr, your love, support and wisdom has been fundamental during this stage of life.
Thank you for being here for me, you were always ready to console me and endure my anxieties and complaints. You are an exemplary husband and a loving father. To my son
Jonas, you make my life so much better, you fill it with joy and happiness. Little as you
are, you have already overcome so many challenges, you stood up and walked even after the countless falls you never gave up. Your curiosity to grow and discover the world, has gave me strength and made me want to be a better person, you make me proud every day. Before last, I want to send a big thank you to my extended family, my cousins and to my friends in Lebanon. To my Aunt Antoinette Antoun who is a great example of hard working resilient women, with a generous big heart. Thank you to my father in law Robert for always being here for our family. And a big Thank you to the talented Gaetan
Meanteau for the awesome cover you created for this thesis
Finally, thanks to everyone who may not have been part of this work, but that I have met along the way,
