University of Groningen
Designing artificial enzymes with unnatural amino acids
Drienovská, Ivana
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Publication date: 2017
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Drienovská, I. (2017). Designing artificial enzymes with unnatural amino acids. University of Groningen.
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It has been almost 5 years since I started my PhD and it is as rewarding as unbelievable for me to finally be able to write the last sentences of my thesis to say thank you to all the people, who made these years filled with beautiful memories.
First, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. Gerard Roelfes. Dear Gerard, thank you for giving me a chance to be part of your group on this crazy journey called PhD. I have certainly learnt a lot and you helped me to not only grow professionally, but also personally. I am aware that I may not be the easiest person to supervise, so thank you for giving me enough space to do things my own way. I really appreciated your positive attitude and words of encouragement, when they were needed. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to work on many great and challenging projects, to go to many conferences, spend time in Barcelona and all of your helpful guidance when writing my thesis. I am sorry that I am not getting anywhere close to mastering the use of ‘a’s’ and ‘the’s’, but you most definitely tried your best. Dank je wel!
I would like to thank the members of my reading committee: Prof. Syuzi Harutyunyan, Prof. Dick Janssen, and Prof. Thomas Ward, for proofreading my thesis and for their valuable and insightful comments.
I would like to thank Prof. J-D Maréchal, Prof. Agustí Lledós and the team in Barcelona - especially Lur, Eli, Manuel and Bea - for the fruitful collaboration, hosting me in Barcelona for three beautiful months and for generously sharing their time and knowledge with me.
I would like to thank Prof. Wesley Browne and Dr. Appu Draksharapu for their help and discussions regarding Raman and EPR experiments described in chapter 2.
As one of my stellingen suggests, I have never stopped proclaiming ‘we did this differently in my previous lab’ (often meaning better). Therefore, I would like to thank Prof. Jiří Damborský, my two supervisors, Dr. Andrea Fořtová and Dr. Radka Chaloupková, and the whole Loschmidt laboratory team. Over the past years, I have realized how fortunate I was to be part of this group and how much I learned during my bachelor and master projects. You gave me all the necessary training to succeed in my PhD. Děkuji!
My paranymphs! Thank you ladies for everything! I cannot picture anyone else to be standing there next to me on my big day. I am very happy to have you in my life and you motivate me to be a better version of myself every day! Our trips have made for some of my best memories over the past years. I have enjoyed our coffees and chats so much and I hope there are still many more to come! Manu, thank you for giving me a chance to be your friend, although I am not cool enough
Acknowledgments
for you! ;) You are one of the most hardworking and determined people I know and if I ever needed someone to push me to work harder I was lucky to have you next to me. Ana, you are the nicest person and your kindness inspires me every day. Thank you very much for all the help with organic chemistry and for synthetizing the BpyAla. I am very proud to have a publication together with you. I wish you both all the best in your professional and personal lives.
Petrík, bez Teba by som vedkyňou nikdy nebola. Už v časoch chemickej olympiády, keď si maličký v šušťákoch na pódiu preberal prvú cenu si bol pre mňa obrovskou inšpiráciou. Ďakujem za všetko! Prepáč za tie večné opravy všetkého, čo som napísala, za počúvanie mojich prezentácií, aj za to, že som tvrdohlavá a nepočúvala tvoje rady. Veľa šťastia do všetkého, do čoho sa v živote pustíš!
I would like to thank all the past and present members of the Roelfes group for creating an inspiring working atmosphere and everyday support in the lab. I have enjoyed all our group meetings, lunch and coffee breaks, as well as many other group activities, in and outside of the lab. I am especially grateful to our ‘girly awesome’ chat group consisting of Ana, Annika, Cora, Manu, Nathalie, Raquel, Sambi, Dowine, Lara and Lili. Thanks girls for all the chats, Ladies nights, parties and evenings with some horrible movies. Nath, it was great to have you around and I miss you a lot. Thank you for our collaboration, which will soon result in a great publication. Good luck in your future career! Sambi, it took us a bit longer to get to know each other better, but I have enjoyed the time we spent together a lot. All the best for your future career. Lily, it was a pleasure to get to know you and great fun to discover that you are not always this nice and sweet girl. All the best for finishing your thesis; you have almost made it. Dowine, thank you for all the help with Dutch-related questions. It was very nice to have you in the office and I wish you the best of luck in the final year of your PhD. Chicas, it was very nice to be part of the artificial metalloenzyme group with you. Lara, you are an inspiration for keeping everything clean and organized! I hope you have enjoyed your biochemistry days and all the best back in Spain. Cora, I am very happy to have you as a successor to my UAA projects. I know that many things have been challenging, but you learnt a lot and hopefully things will be easier from now on. Raquel, although you have been hidden all the way in building 18, it felt like you were a part of our group and we shared many nice chats and laughs. Good luck with your new career and I am looking forward to be at your promotion soon. Slowly, all of us move on, but I will certainly miss you girls a lot and good luck to you! Ruben, thank you for helping me supervise Remke and big thanks for providing a quick translation of the summary. Clemens, thanks for your help
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proofreading parts of my thesis and for joining the aminophenylalanine project. Your passionate attitude is inspiring and I have enjoyed all our work talks a lot.
I would like to thank my students, Annika Borg and Remke Scheele. Annika, you have been an amazing student, and I was always very impressed with how much you learnt and how many questions you asked. While supervising you I certainly learned a lot myself. Your bachelor lab journal will always be a bible for the group for all the methods we use. Thank you for all the SDS-PAGE gels you prepared for me (I really miss this service) and for the trips to Finland showing me your beautiful country. Remke, you changed my opinion on Dutch students. I was not a big fan of all the independence, but you showed me that if someone were smart and determined, it would work. You have been a great addition to the group and it was a lot of fun to be around you. To both of you, all the best in your PhDs! I am proud that I was able to keep the passion for the science burning in you and I am confident you will do great in the future.
I would like to thank all the members of the Stratingh Institute, who I had the pleasure to meet. I would also like to express my gratitude to the technical and administrative stuff, especially Theodora, Monique, Tineke, Annette, Alphons and Hilda, for their constant support and help
I would like to thank Prof. Dick Janssen and Prof. Marco Fraaije for allowing us to be part of their laboratories. Also, a big thanks to all the past and current members of their groups for creating a nice working atmosphere and – especially in recent years – for all the great times outside of the lab. I would like to thank my colleagues from lab 129. Dear Matt, Thai, Nikola, Alex and Christiaan, thank you for making me feel welcome in the biochem labs and all the fun we had.
Nikola, thank you for all your help, in and outside of the lab, for giving me a push when I needed one and for not accepting when I ignored your advice. You made my life quite a ride and I am looking forward to see what is ahead of us.
V neposlednom rade patrí veľké ďakujem mojej rodine. Ďakujem, že ma podporujete v nasledovaní mojich snov. Maminka a ocino, ďakujem za všetko! Aj keď som si nevybrala kariéru, akú ste asi očakávali a stala sa touto večne cestujúcou vedkyňou, dúfam, že na mňa môžete byť hrdý! Nikuš a Dušo, ak by som si mohla vybrať súrodencov, nedokázala by som to spraviť lepšie. Som hrdá na to, ako sa Vám darí. Ďakujem Nikuš za to, akou spoločenskou a priateľskou ma inšpiruješ byť a ďakujem brat za neustálu pomoc a tvoju súťaživú povahu, ktorú si vo mne navždy vštiepil.
Maňa, v posledných riadkoch chcem poďakovať Tebe. Tvoja výchova mi dala základy mojej osobnosti a ak som v tomto poďakovaní vymenovala všetky
Acknowledgments
osoby, ktoré ma vyformovali tam, kde som dnes, tak ty máš na tom obrovský prídel. Ďakujem aj za vštiepenú lásku k biológii, chémie a učeniu!
