University of Groningen
EPS and water in biofilms
Hou, Jiapeng
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Publication date: 2018
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Hou, J. (2018). EPS and water in biofilms. University of Groningen.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
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A PhD project is like an adventure that I can never go through by myself. The work of this thesis is strongly supported by UMCG, the BME department, my supervisors, colleagues, friends and my family. Simple words are not sufficient to express my gratefulness to all of you.
Prof. Dr. Henk J. Busscher, it was amazing to work under your supervision. You gave me a lot
of freedom playing with my projects, and you always showed up at the right time to guide my way. There is a Chinese saying, 一日为师，终生为父 (Once a teacher, forever a father), to show our greatest respect to whoever teaches us. Actually you did give me a feeling of being a father to me. You stimulated me when I was lazy, encouraged me when I was frustrated, enlightened me when I was confused, taught and forgave me when I made mistakes, and save me out when I was drowned in a dark time. I enjoyed every meeting and every discussion with you, although occationally I felt upset walking out of your office. You have taught me so much about how to become an independent researcher, which will definitely benefit my career. I am sincerely grateful for all you have done for me. Thank you Henk.
Prof. Dr. Henny C. van der Mei, I should firstly thank you for giving me an opportunity to
work in BME department. You are the nicest and most patient supervisor that I have ever met. I often came up with some questions or ideas and was eager to discuss with you, without even making an appointment in advance. But you were always so patient to discuss with me, even though that took you a lot of valuable time. You have put a lot of effort on me, helping me to get used to the life here, reminding me very detailed but important issues, giving me a lot of guidance and suggestions on my projects and experiments, and reviewing my paper again and again even in the late nights. Your attention to details impressed me a lot. Discussing with you about small details helped me to solve many big problems. I appreciate so much for all your care, help, ideas, feedbacks and suggestions. Thank you Henny.
Many thanks to the reading committee, Prof. Dr. Hans-Curt Flemming, Prof. Dr. Yijin Ren
and Prof. Dr. Jiuyi Li. Thank you for your time and effort on reading and evaluating of my
thesis.
Deepak, the fountain of ideas and knowledge. It was so much fun to work together with you.
It was impossible for me to start so well in my PhD project without your instructions, suggestions and helps. The two valuable capabilities you taught me, to be responsible for my own project and to think creatively, played a vital role on my whole PhD journey. You also taught me lab skills, analysis and presentation of data. You brought me to conferences and taught me how to build networks. I cannot list up how many things you taught me and I cannot express how much I appreciate you. I wish all the best to Ducom, to Agnieszka and you.
Betsy, thank you for your training on bacterial and biofilm culture. Your instructions and
helps were so important for me to start my research in BME. Willem, you are such a nice guy that always willing to help. Thank you for helping me to take care of my student. Thank you
for all the OCT experiments that you have done for me. I enjoyed a lot to work together with you. Ed, thank you for your programs and all the technical support. You are a smart magician that makes everything possible. Gésinda, thank you for your training, suggestions and supports on my OCT experiments. Thank you for the comfort and strength you gave me in my dark time. Joop, thank you for the XPS experiments and the maintenance of OCT. Hans, thank you for the ellipsometry experiments and all your support on the flow experiments.
Wya, Ina and Willy, thank you both for the tremendous administrative work you have done
for me. Ina, thank you specially for all your sweet concerns to me, and for the nice piano.
Jelmer, thank you for all the great discussions and suggestions. I enjoyed so much to play
music together with you. Patrick, Romana, Inge, Prashant, Theo, Roel and Chris, thank you for all your questions, suggestions and helps. Reinier, Jelly, Minie, Melissa, René, Corien,
Marja, Danielle and Marianne, thank you for all the instructions and helps in the lab. Qihui and Yong, my best friends in BME, and both my roommates during Kolff Days. I’m so
lucky to know you, and share the memorable time with you. It was always nice to have chats with you on koffee breaks, or just go to your office and disturb you from your work. All the funny stories we shared and the bad things we complained, made my days so colorful. I also want to thank Yingruo and Yuanfeng for all the dishes you’ve shared with me. A sandwich with your dishes inside makes a fantastic lunch.
Brian and Grace, you are so nice and reliable. Thank you for helping me with my moving in
Groningen, introducing me a grate driving coach, helping me to buy a nice car, and all other useful tips. Best wishes for Xuanxuan and all your family.
Song and Anne, it was a memorable year together with you. You had given me advices even
before my arrival in Netherlands and you did a lot to help me adapt my life here. Thank you for all the big dinners and for the amazing TV with cabinet. Best wishes for Miemie and the new baby.
Vera, Gülcan, Bu, Hongping, Jeroen and Zhiwei, my office mates. My daily life with you is
full of pleasure. The winter in the Netherlands is cold but sharing an office with you always makes me feel warm. I have experienced one year alone so I deeply know how important you are to me. I appreciate all the great time with you. Special thanks to Jeroen for the kind translation of my thesis summary to dutch, and for the various translation help in my daily life.
Philipp, Jan, Barbara, Ed and Stefan, the BME cougars. What a nice memory with you guys.
Chatting with you during the lunch time and coffee breaks was the best time for me everyday. We participated football tournaments and we almost won the champion. Thank you so much for letting me join your amazing group. Thank you for all the invitations of sports, dinners, parties and drinks. I really wish we could get together somewhere in the future.
Brandon, my good friend and biofilm mentor. Thank you for the informative and interesting
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happier after having a little chat with you or even after your special “trip-me-up” greetings. I like to listen to your daily life stories although I can’t follow all of them. I enjoyed your fantastic parties although I can’t participate all of them. Thank you for all the pleasures you brought to me.
Yafei, Yiwen, Ni, Huaiying, Guangyue, Jingjin, Linyan, Xiaoxiang, Can, Liang, Lu (Ge), Lu (Yuan), Yuchen, Yanyan, Ruifang, Kecheng, Linzhu, Xinghong and Xueping, a big Chinese
family. I could never imaging even two years ago that we can have such a big and warm Chinese family here in the Netherlands. I’m so lucky to meet you, to work and play together with you. Thank you for everything you have done for me. I wish all of you to have great publications and bright futures.
René, I enjoyed playing football with you. Thank you for the OCT experiments and all useful
tips. Niar, thank you for answering my endless questions. Simon, it was fun to drink and play games with you. Thank you for the “regret” nights. Raquel, thank you for your advices in my first year in the Netherlands. Rebecca, I still remember that you said my name sounded like Jay-Z. You are so humorous and thank you for all the happy moments. Damla, even a tiny tiny favor I asked you, you did your best to help me. You are such a nice and lovely girl. I’m grateful for all your helps. Olga, thank you for lending me your laser pointer. Gwenda, I enjoyed playing badminton and volleyball with you. Abigail, it was fun to chat with you at leisure time. For the rest BME members, please forgive me that I couldn’t list all your names. Thank you for all your cakes, helps and supports. I enjoyed working together with all of you.
Binqi and Shili, How lucky I am to meet you and get to know you in that early morning.
Being together with you, and the two naughty boys is always so memorable. Thank you for your endless love and meticulous care to Olio.
Chengyong, Chenglong, Keni, Huatang, Yun, Qihong, Zixu, it was a lot of fun to do sports
and participate tournaments with you. I will never forget those exciting moments.
Kun, Na, Jinfeng, Gongbao, Chunyue, Yue, Wenting, Yimin, you make my leisure time so
colorful. I enjoyed all the gaming, hiking, skiing, travelling, BBQ, dinners and drinking with you. Thank you for all the happy time.
Zhengyang, Peng, Yuelin, Ming, Shuo, Hebei, Danfeng, Yu, Yuying, Jingyu, Qixiang, Jun, Yuyang, Zhide, Wenqing, Jiaying, Zhihui, Miaolin, Xiaoli, Chang, Lingyu, Xishan, Jie, Fujin, Zhanmei, Ling, Jiawen, Ruogu, Yimeng, Cong, Qian, Xi, Yue, He, Guannan, Dongchen, Yan, Jing…… my best friends. We may not have many chances to meet, but we are still tied
together somehow. Thank you for all your care and support. Wish all the best to all of you. 亲爱的爸爸妈妈，岳父岳母，谢谢你们的养育和教导，关怀和惦念。虽然我们在异乡 生活，但你们的爱给了我们无尽的勇气，动力和温暖。很抱歉不能时时陪伴在你们身 边，希望你们身体健康，生活充实，天天都有好心情。我所有的家人们，谢谢你们的 关心和帮助，希望你们一切都好。
Fangjie, my honey. You flied so fast but finally I catch you up here in the Netherlands. You
are definitely God’s best gift to me in my whole life. Sharing time with you, wherever we are or whatever we do, is like living in the paradise for me. Our photo gallery are full of sweet moments in the last four years and those moments weaved my best memory. Thank you for agreeing to marry me, forgiving my bad temper and bad habits, taking care of me especially at my hard time, and being so sweet to me all the time. As a return, I promise you a sweeter future, with our hands tightly holding together, till the end of our lives. I love you.
Olio, our sweet dog. I know you won’t understand this paragraph so you don’t mind I say
that you can only be my second best gift from God. Thank you for your sweet company and all the joys you brought to me. My appreciation to you will be expressed in more yummy snacks and playing time with you, I promise. Be healthy, and please stay with us forever.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
