University of Groningen
Exploring combined influences of material topography, stiffness and chemistry on cell
behavior at biointerfaces
Zhou, Qihui
IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below.
Document Version
Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record
Publication date: 2018
Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database
Citation for published version (APA):
Zhou, Q. (2018). Exploring combined influences of material topography, stiffness and chemistry on cell behavior at biointerfaces. Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.
Copyright
Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons).
Take-down policy
If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.
Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum.
A
CKNOWLEDGEMENTSAs cells are shaped by the surrounding microenvironment mentioned in my thesis, my four years journey in Groningen impacted my character a lot. I have enjoyed various wonderful cultures and working in this city. It is my pleasure to study cell-biointerface interactions in the Biomedical Engineering (BME) department. During this period, I have learned a lot of important things, mainly how to think deeply and work efficiently. Here, I would like to thank my dear supervisors, colleagues, friends, and family. Confronted with experimental issues and stress, it would not be possible to finish my thesis on time without your continuous support. You made my life colorful and cheerful.
First and foremost, the first person I would like to thank is my supervisor, Dr. Patrick
van Rijn, for giving me the chance to be a PhD student in your group. Thank you for
your patience to my poor oral English in my first year and writing your idea on the paper. Without any doubt, you are an excellent supervisor and group leader. You gave me a lot of freedom to express my ideas and plan the research. Your full of ideas, profound knowledge, and high efficiency made my PhD experience productive and also set up a nice example for me. I have learned a lot from you, how to design and do research properly, but also how to deal with the issues positively. You always present with a lot of patience and encouragement. It was very impressive to receive your emails in the evening often. You took me to the conferences and invited my wife and me to your home for BBQ. Within these four years, I quite enjoyed working with you and cannot imagine having a better supervisor than you. You help me grow and become a researcher. I wish you great success in the biomaterials area and all the best in the future. I would like to further express my great gratitude to another promoter of mine, Prof.
Dr. Henk J. Busscher, for giving me the chance to do my PhD in the BME
department. In the regular meetings, you gave me your valuable discussions and suggestions as well as share your editorial experiences, which helped me improve my work. I learned a lot from your rigorous scientific attitude. I appreciate your spirit for learning Chinese at your age: Live and learn (活到老学到老).
My sincere gratitude to Prof. Dr. Ben L. Feringa. I feel so lucky to collaborate on the molecular motor project. I really appreciate that you squeezed time in your busy agenda to have a meeting with me. I learned a lot from your rigorous attitude, critical mind, and broad knowledge. Thank you for your valuable discussions and suggestions.
I am also deeply grateful to my master supervisor Prof. Dr. Yanzhong Zhang. You opened my path to scientific research and guided me the first step into the field of Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering. Your rigorous attitude, strong expertise, and critical questions enlightened me over these years. You taught me how to solve problems and develop my ideas. You always say and do “It is better to teach people to fish than to give fish (授人以鱼不如授人以渔)”. I learned a lot from you.
Many thanks go to the reading committee, Prof. dr. Ruud Bank, Prof. dr. ir. Erik van
der Giessen, and Prof. dr. Patricia Dankers, for the evaluation and approval of my
thesis.
A special thanks to Jelmer for introducing me to Patrick’s group and Gwenda for translating my summary.
Joop, thank you for doing the XPS, solving the AFM issues, and maintaining plasma
system (the most important equipment during my whole PhD). Theo, thank you for your help with cell staining, confocal microscopy, valuable discussions and suggestions for cell experiments. Klaas, thank you for your support with TissueFaxs microscope and TissueQuest analysis software; These made me finish my project on time. Reinier, my RT-PCR teacher, thanks! Willem, thank you for helping me with microscopy and look for stuff. Hans, thank you for your help with QCM-D and water contact angle testing. Wya, Ina, and Willy, thank you help me with the administrative affairs. Ed,
Roel, Betsy, Minnie, and Gesinda, thank you for your help in the lab work.
Philipp, my best friend! When I was in difficult moments of my life in Europe, you always help me with your positive atmosphere and words “Don’t worry, be happy”. The good thing is that you made me laugh every day. But there are many wrinkles generated in my face. ☺ Also, thank you for your help and suggestions with my experiments. Sharing an office with you is my luckiest thing.
Liang, it is destiny (缘分)! After we worked in the same group during our master, I am
happy that you joined Patrick’s group and now we work together again in the PhD stage. I am glad to go through these years together with you. Thank you for your help with my experiments, data analysis and student supervision when I was back China. I wish you all the best for your PhD journey.
Yong, my like-minded (志同道合) friend! Both of us are obsessed with scientific
research. When we start to talk about research and plans, we share our ideas and cannot stop. I quite enjoyed our conversation! I wish you can make a lot of achievements and enjoy the last year of your PhD.
Yafei, thank you for your suggestions with my protein adsorption experiment. I enjoyed
talking with you and collaborating. Brandon, thank you for modifying my manuscript and answering my language questions with patience. Anne (Chongxia) and Song, thank you for your help with microscopy, focal adhesion analysis, and hotpot dinner.
Damla, thank you for your help with glovebox and sharing me the news of postdoc
position preferentially. Simon, your joke always made me laugh. I never forget the game we played during the kolff day party. Rebecca, thank you for your help with the hora finita questions and comforting words. Fahad, nice to meet you in the Netherlands. Because of you, in that time I often went to coffee break and drank hot water together.
Also, I would like to thank Chinese friends in the BME department: JP, Bingran, Bu,
Guangyue, Huaiyin, Two Lu, Xiaoxiang, Zengni, Yiwen, Hongping, Yuchen, Linyan, Yanyan, Zhiwei, Ruifang, Kecheng, Can, Linzu. And, other colleagues: Barbara, Stefen, Carlos, Jan, Ed, Two Olga, Jeroen, Deepak, Taraneh, Ana Maria, Lais, Valentina, Rene, Felipe, Nair, Bart, Corien……. Thank you for your help and
support. Working in the BME is my pleasure.
Min, you are my good example in doing research. I wish you make many achievements
and get PhD degree soon in the University of Nijmegen. Huihua, “Shi Xiong (师兄)”. I see you more like my old brother. Thank you for your valuable suggestions and your help with the projects. Jiawen, thank you for your help and suggestions with the molecular motor project. I wish you all the best in south china normal university. Miao, we often have different viewpoints. But I enjoy our debate and no matter who is right.
Yuanze, I very much enjoyed playing basketball together and our conversation.
I also would like to thank my friends in the Netherlands: Lei Lv, Qiutong Chen, Jing
Xie, Jingjing Deng, Yifei Fan, Yuanyuan Wang, Liqiang Lu, Yanglei Yi, Boqun Liu, Haojie Cao, Fangjie Gu, Hongyan Li, Zhiyuan Zhao, Peiliang Zhao, Jun Li, Chao Ma, Changsen Leng, Ying Cui, Bin Jiang, Jingjin Dong, Xiaoming Zhang, basketball guys……
Finally, I would like to give my great gratitude to my family. Mom and Dad, thank you for your selfless love. You always encourage me and tell me “knowledge can change fate”. I hope you are healthy and happy. Parents-in-law, thank you for bringing up a sweet girl. You are so warm and I enjoyed a lot with you in Anyang. I wish you all the best in the future.
Yingruo, during my four years journey, the most fortunate thing is that I have met with
YOU, married with YOU, and live with YOU, which is my the wisest choice. You are pretty, simple, kind, and also filial. Before living with you, all I see is work. Now, I see that work is for life that is the most important thing! Thank you for your endless love and support. I cannot imagine the life without you. So, let me “Holding your hand, and aging with you (执子之手，与子偕老)”.
