University of Groningen
Interplay between dietary fibers and gut microbiota for promoting metabolic health Mistry, Rima
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Publication date: 2019
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Mistry, R. (2019). Interplay between dietary fibers and gut microbiota for promoting metabolic health. University of Groningen.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Mtu ni watu (Trans: a person is people)
– Swahili proverb
The four years of this PhD have been a transformational journey for me in many ways. The effort gone into this work required patience and perseverance, not only from myself but people around me including my colleagues, family and friends.
Here, I would like to express my appreciation to all those who have contributed to this work and experience.
Firstly, I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my supervisors – Prof. Henkjan Verkade and Dr. Uwe Tietge. Thank you for recognizing my candidacy for this position and for giving me the opportunity to do it with confidence and independence. Henkjan, thank you for your encouragement and support throughout the project. Your advice and scientific discussions have helped me push the envelope every time. Uwe, your help and guidance have been instrumental for the completion of this thesis. I appreciate the fact that you were always available to answer my queries. Our interactions not only led to stimulating discussions but also helped me get rid of any doubts I had about the progress of my thesis, especially in its early stages. The knowledge and experience I have gained while working with you is indispensable for which I am deeply grateful.
My sincere gratitude to the members of my assessment committee Prof. Paul de Vos, Prof Rolf Berger, Prof. Jan Knol for critically reading and approving my PhD thesis. My special thanks to all the co-authors of my manuscripts for their valuable contribution and guidance.
I would like to thank Carbohydrate Competence Center (CCC) industrial and academic collaborators for their valuable inputs. In particular, Klaudyna, Fangjie, Marcus, Prof. Lubbert Dijkhuizen, Prof. Henk Schols and Prof. Hauke Smidt. I enjoyed all our interactive discussions which helped me to improve the planning of my project.
I would also like to express my appreciation to Prof. Folkert Kuipers, Prof. Bert Groen, Prof. Eline van der Beek, Prof. Barbara Baker, Dr. Hans Jonker, Dr. Janine Kruit, Dr. Maaike Oosterveer for their valuable inputs and suggestions during weekly group meetings.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all those contributors who have supported my project with their experience and technical knowledge. Jan Freark, thank you for going out of your way to help me on several occasions, especially when I started with the animal work. I am grateful for your patience to answer my countless questions, and all those useful tips, particularly that of using a hammer. Scientific work cannot be completed without continuous technical support, thus my special thanks to all the technicians who have helped me at various stages of my project be it with analytical measurements, sample preparations, discussions, troubleshooting - Renze, Angelika, Henk, Niels, Martijn, Aycha and Vincent. I am also thankful to Rick who performed many bile cannulations for my experiments.
I would like to thank all my fellow PhD students, researchers and other lab mates in Pediatrics and MDL for all our ‘mostly’ scientific and ‘occasionally’ non-scientific discussions: Sandra, Archi, Fabio, Ana, Johanna, Irene, Fan, Turu, Marleen, Maaike, Jan Freark, Tim, Dicky, Angela, Dorieke and Daniel. Thank you for adding humor, excitement and fun in the lab and outside
I would like to give my special thanks to all the people I shared my office with - Henk, Lidiya, Sanam, Mirjam, Onne, Yu, Fan, Raphael, Martijn, and all others who visited. Thank you for not only sharing the office space with me but also sharing your thoughts, chocolates, joys, cookies, excitement, dropjes, frustrations, muffins, failures,
taartjes and achievements.
Lidiya, thank you for your help, especially at the beginning of my project when I needed it the most. I enjoyed all our interactions and learned a lot while talking with you. Sanam, I miss our fun talks. Thank you for your Iranian food and hospitality, something I will always cherish. Mirjam, we started our Ph.D. around the same time, went through a lot of similar challenges in our projects, therefore, it was only apt that
135 you were my paranymph at the end of it. I want to thank you for all your kindness, friendship and the generous supply of dark chocolates. Onne, your engaging and provoking conversations added to my memorable office experience. Thank you for your help during my last experiment. Fan, thank you for your help during the final experiments. It was wonderful to have worked with you.
Violeta, a cup of coffee with you can uplift anyone. I am lucky to have met you on this journey. Sandra, Archi, Fabio thank you for all the amazing parties, food and games. Memories that will be cherished for a long time to come.
Mohamed and Zainab, you have both been a family, my home away from home. Thank you for all the delicious Tanzanian diners, movies and unforgettable times we have spent together. Mohamed, knowing you for more than twelve years, makes you my well-deserved paranymph. Thank you for all your help.
To all those friends from across the world, whom I have met during my stay in The Netherlands and elsewhere, thank you for motivating me and contributing to my amazing experience of living abroad. I look forward to many more of our interactions in the future.
My special thanks to Venod, Josephine and Riddhi for their love and encouragement. Venod, thank you for encouraging and inspiring me. I continue to appreciate all our conversations, particularly on contingency plans.
Lastly, to my dear mummy (Manorma), daddy (Harkishan) and brother (Dipesh), I can’t thank you enough. This journey had plenty of trials and tribulations, but you were my pillars of strength at every stage. I am blessed to have your unconditional love and support which has shaped my life and career in a very important way and will continue to do so.
