University of Groningen
Endocytosis of nanomedicines Francia, Valentina
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Publication date: 2018
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Francia, V. (2018). Endocytosis of nanomedicines: Dissecting the pathways of uptake of nanosized drug carriers by cells. University of Groningen.
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Acknowledgements
After writing this thesis, I feel like it is not only my duty but also my pleasure to thank and remember those people who led me here and contributed to this work. First of all I would like to express my gratitude towards my main supervisor, Anna. We started working in this lab almost together, we wrote papers together, we had students together, we went to conferences together, we have a WhatsApp group together and we almost got two kids during this PhD. You have taught me everything I know about this field and this thesis is mine as it is yours. Thanks for always being present, supportive and encouraging, in particular in those occasions in which I wasn’t able to think straight. And of course I thank Chris and Sofia for being supportive “per proprietà transitiva”. Special thanks also to my other main supervisor, Prof. Klaas Poelstra, who has always been very positive and constructive in his comments and in expressing his opinion. Thank you for finding the time for revising this thesis and also passing by my office now and then to ask me if everything was ok, despite your busy schedule. I also want to thank Prof. Barbro Melgert, Dr Inge de
Graaf, Dr Sylvia Notenboom, Dr Leonie Beljaars, Prof. Daan Touw, Prof. Angela Casini and Prof. Geny Groothuis, for their interesting questions and their way of thinking outside the
box. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the reading committee, Prof. Martina
Schmidt, Prof. Raymond Schiffelers, Prof. Stefaan de Smedt for their time and willingness
to assess this thesis.
I wish to thank all the staff members and students of PTT, present and past, that have been part of my life in this four years, for their support and all the chats: Catharina, Eduard,
Gillian, Marina, Marjolijn, Henk, Jan, Fransien, Adhy, Natalia, Laura, Shanshan, Habibie, Anienke, Gwenda, Marcel, Viktoriia, Carian, Christina, Sarah, Andreia, Kaisa, Benoit, Ming, Suresh and all the others. First of all I want to thank Catharina, who helped me splitting,
inhibiting things, fixing the microscopes and other random problems and who has always been available to sort out my mess. Thanks also to Eduard, who has been the main source of information of this lab, in particular thanks for answering WhatsApp in the evenings when I couldn’t find things and when the machines were not working. I also want to thank Jan, mainly for being Jan, but also for passing by on Sundays to randomly clean the labs. I will always remember your devotion to this job. Adhy, it is your turn now, hold on a bit longer! Dear Fransien, after sleeping in the same room with you for one week, I feel we have a special connection :D I am so happy that you managed to build a family and I wish you all the best with it and with this job. Gillian, we are just so lucky to have you in our department…sometimes :D You have been our personal Irish fairy, I’d like to bring you with me when I will leave.
And then I want to thank the Nano Group, for their presence and support in these years. Starting from my very first colleague, Roberta. When I saw you the first time I had the same
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feeling that a kid has when she gets a new baby sister :D. You are doing great so far so you don’t need any further encouragement from me, voglio solo dirti che ti voglio bene e che devi smetterla di organizzare cene quando io non ci sono. Daphne, my dear, you are the most honest and candid person I have ever met. Despite me trying to corrupt you many times, please stay as you are: we need people like you in this world (and group). You still have more than a year in front of you, be wiser than I was! Hector, you are the youngest of the group and you have a bright career in front of you, so remember that you have a lot of time to have lunch (acuerdate de comer de vez en cuando!). Natasha, you are the new arrival but we already need you in this group for your energy and enthusiasm. I’m thanking you in advance for all your help at the DeltaVision which I will ask you in the next months (prepare yourself). Aldy, I have been so lucky to have you as former student! Thank you for being so helpful and full of energy and ideas. I literally couldn’t have survived without you (but you know this already). Then I would like to thank all my students and in particular
Guido, for his help with the inhibitor paper and Shvan, for teaching me patience.
Thanks also to my friends and special guests of the Nano Group: Riccardo, Luca and Valeria.
Riccardo, hai una menzione speciale per essere stato non solo un collega e amico, ma anche
un degno compagno di stanza. Grazie per le lunghe chiacchierate sull’Italia e su tutto ciò che là non funziona, mi hai spesso riportata alla dura realtà tutte le volte che rischiavo di fare voli pindarici. Spero di vederti presto a Torino o dovunque tu andrai e spero tanto che troverai una buona posizione fuori dal mondo accademico! Luchino, sono proprio felice che tu abbia preso la strada del dottorato e ti auguro di spaccare i culi a Cambridge. Vieni a trovarci! Valeria, daje, sei appena andata via e mi manchi già. Grazie per avermi fatto da personal trainer dell’anima e grazie per tutte le nostre discussioni esistenziali, di semantica, di semiotica e per tutte le migliaia di cose che ci siamo dette e confidate. Ti auguro tanta felicità e guarda che non sei una brutta persona.
Finally, I need to thank my present roommates and paranymphs: Harita and Keni. Thanks to you both for taking this responsibility (not sure I should really thank you till I see the video you made). Keni, I don’t know how to describe how happy I am to have met you, on a professional and personal level. 我爱 你. You are a smart PhD even if you don’t think you are, and you can accomplish a lot. It has been so funny to be around you all these years and this is also why I’m happy I can stay a bit longer in this lab. Harita, you know exactly what you are doing and for sure you don’t need any help from me: it has been the opposite, indeed. From finding the rooms for the meetings to teaching me how to use Photoshop. You are a more than suitable replacement for me when I will leave, therefore I hereby declare that you can be the next occupant of “the desk”. Special thanks goes to my other former roommate, Amirah. Finally I got here too! Thanks for all your support, all the questions answered (I’m still bothering you now that you are in Indonesia!) and in particular your friendship. Our small talk and chatting about academia, life, politics and society helped
P a g e | 237 me to open my mind and made me feel included. I’m just sorry that we couldn’t spend more time together. Special thanks also to my friend, colleague and neighbor Imco: thanks for your help with the Dutch summary! But in particular thanks for being my friend in all these years, I wish you all the best!
Infine vorrei ringraziare tutte le persone che hanno contribuito indirettamente a questa tesi, tramite sostegno psicologico, presente e passato. Fede, come avrei fatto a sopravvivere 4 anni qui senza di te! Sei la prima persona che ho conosciuto e, in 4 anni, l'unica arrivata alla fine. In bocca al lupo per tutto, come se ne avessi bisogno. Grazie ai miei amici, ai miei ex colleghi dell’IFOM, grazie doc!, grazie Donika, Martini, Paolo e Simo, Mario e Antonio, grazie a Stefano e la sua famiglia, grazie agli “italiani a Groningen”, Angelo, Anna, Elvira, Andrea, Giorgio, Marco, Salvo, Manuel, Stefano e tutti quelli che ho dimenticato, espatriati come me. Infine, grazie alla mia famiglia e soprattutto, ma’, grazie di aver ripetuto con me.
