University of Groningen
Bacterial transmission
Gusnaniar
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Publication date: 2017
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Gusnaniar (2017). Bacterial transmission. Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.
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“In the world, you may be just one person, But to one person, you just might be the world “
– Author unknown –
In the late of 2012, I was fortunate to get a grant from UMCG to do a PhD Sandwich research in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. I was very enthusiastic to learn and to do research about biofilm-related infection in this research group. Doing research for 3 months in the Netherlands at that time made me realize that I need more than 3 months to work if I want to maximize the result of my PhD training. Therefore, I applied for a grant from the European Union in the early of 2013 and fortunately (again!), I got a grant from Lotus Erasmus Mundus to do research in the same department. My life was full of joy and euphoria when I knew that I could stay longer in The Netherlands. Not only I will meet and get trained by great scientists in the world of biofilm, but also will gain experience the complexities by living abroad. My euphoria did not last too long when I experienced challenges in both life and research. Luckily, I could manage all the challenges and I believe they came to sharpen me, and I am grateful for it. Going through this PhD journey, there were several people whom always gave their best support and prayers that I am really grateful for. Therefore, it is a pleasure to write this acknowledgement as it is a tangible way of showing my gratitude to the people who made this PhD journey possible and enjoyable.
First and foremost, I would like to express my utmost appreciation to my promotors, Prof. Henny C. Van der Mei and Prof. Henk J. Busscher. Thank you for providing me with the opportunity to explore the biofilm world. Dear
Henny, the first time we met in Groningen, I came to your office 10 minutes
earlier from our appointment at 08.00 in the morning. The first words you said to me at that time: ”Niar, you are too early”. I arrived too early because I was lost trying to find the department, as UMCG was so big and all its pillars looked similar to me! I think I did not tell you at that time why I arrived too early since I did not have any courage to tell you so. Henny, you have been a tremendous mentor for me. You have been so supportive since the first day I began working at the department. You always encouraged and supported me academically and emotionally through this PhD journey. I admire you and get inspired by your dedication to science. You pay great details to everything, have great enthusiasm and patience, and are a trustworthy person. Your door was always open for discussion, and you always had time to answer my emails even though they were silly questions. You always encouraged me to avoid the word YES and let me speak out my opinion. I cannot thank you enough for everything that you have done to me. I will always cherish this experience of working with you. Dear
Henk, I still remember when we had our first meeting in the late of 2012, you
said to me: ”Niar, I know it is difficult but it is doable”. The sentence that I
always keep in mind when challenges approach me in their ways. Henk, you are a great mentor who has special ways to train your students. Thank you for pushing me to do my best. You always pushed me to improve myself and to test my limit. Our progress meetings sometimes (or maybe most of the time) made you dizzy, but at the end of the meetings, I am grateful that you could provide some warm words (not in every meeting of course!) stating that you, together with Henny and Jelmer were not only to celebrate success of your student but also to help them when they are totally lost in their research. Thank you for always having full faith in me, encouraging me to learn and letting me speak my mind even though it is not completely correct.
My acknowledgement extended to my co-promotors, Dr Jelmer Sjollema and
Dr Titik Nuryastuti. Dear Jelmer, I can hardly find words to express my
appreciation to you. As my daily supervisor, you were the person that I met almost every day to discuss my research. You are such a great advisor and a nice person. Despite my limited knowledge and experience in math and physics, you always had faith in me and patiently guided me to believe that this research was doable. I have learned a lot from our Friday progress meeting, which I miss nowadays (except it was always at 9.00). Thank you for your patience, thoughtful guidance, critical comments, and insight in my research. I will be forever grateful, you will always be the most influential person in my academic life. Dear
dr. Titik, even though you were far away from Groningen, your moral support
was always with me during my Ph.D. Thank you for always believing in me that I could do my best here in Groningen. You always had time to help me with my clinical research. Thank you for introducing me to the world of biofilm as well. My interest in biofilm research blossomed because of you.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the reading committee, Prof. Jan
Maarten van Dijl, Prof. Yijin Ren, and Prof. Mustofa for agreeing to be the
reading committee for my thesis and for their valuable time to assess my thesis. My sincere thanks go to Betsy, Willem, Ed, Joop, Minnie, Rene Djikstra,
Gesinda, Jelly, Hans, Chris for their collaborations, help, and discussions. Betsy, you were very helpful. I am grateful you were there with me in ML2
almost every day. It was an enjoyable moment when we shared our stories during 25 min transmission. Thank you for everything. Willem, thank you for helping me with confocal imaging. Ed, thank you for your patience with my questions, IT problems, transmission device, everything. Joop, thank you for your collaboration in the lubricity measurement. Minnie, thank you for your help since the beginning of transmission project. René, thank you for being my first coach in the lab. You taught me almost everything in my first year.
Gesinda, thank you for teaching me OCT and helping me with the contact
angle measurement. Jelly, thank you for helping me when I had a problem with OCT, Hans, you were offering me a help when I had a problem measuring the contact angle of my silicone rubber tubes- thank you!! Chris, thank you for your
help in some late afternoons when I had problems with the autoclave. Your working time made me feel that I was not alone in the lab.
Dr Theo G van Kooten, Dr Prashant K Sharma, Dr Patrick van Rijn, Ing. Klaas Sjollema. I am grateful for all enthusiastic questions, discussion, and
knowledge obtained while working and discussing things with you.
I am very grateful to have my best friends who supported me and kept me sane throughout my PhD journey. The people whom I met as strangers, I took as friends, and I pray our friendships will never end. (Dr) Amirah, the tallest Indonesian girl from Pharmacy Dept. I admire your habit of being well-organized and being detailed in everything. Your research log books made me crazy if I compare them to mine, not to mention your logic and critical thinking is amazing. I realize that we sometimes are mean to each other, we choose words like bullets of a gun, but you also admit that it is our way to show that we care about each other. Some of your ‘words’ have given me a different view of the world. Our trip to Disneyland was the best short getaway from the lab that I ever had (except for my metro ticket- I was annoying you because of that, I am so sorry). Even better, I thank you for dragging me to those roller coasters, the things that I was really afraid of, realizing that I could conquer my fear of them. I am so grateful to know you and to have this friendship with you. You are like a sister to me. I wish you nothing but success in your academic career in ITB and your life path. Raquel, I do not know how to thank you properly. Your door is always open whenever I need you the most. Together with Carlos, you both always encourage me to believe in myself and to speak what I want in life. Our talk accompanied by your super nom-nom homemade cheesecake will be missed. I admit that saying goodbye to both of you will be one of the hardest things that I will do. Thank you for your willingness to be my paranymph in your busy schedule. I will miss you a lot. I wish you all the best for your career and family. Please keep in touch although I am no longer in the Netherlands. Thank you for everything. Neily, my housemate. You are such a classy lady with high commitment to your lovely family. I admire how you manage your time between your PhD training and your little Almira. Thank you for all the moments that we have shared together, treating me like a family (sharing your food in particular!!), our random talks, being a good listener with amazing feedback:D. I wish you nothing but success and happiness. Nisa, the girl who loves J-Pop like nobody else. Your easygoingness amazes me. I admire the way you cope challenges in life. Thank you for our talks (both the serious and the random ones), dinner invitations, painting the cover of my thesis beautifully and your willingness to be my paranymph as well. I wish you success for whatever you choose in life and may the happiness always be with you and Ewoud!
Ina, Willy, Wya, thank you all for your help with the respect of paperwork,
financial matters, everything. Ina, probably I am the one you could remember as the one who had problems with the lab key, either lost or forgot to bring it, I am so sorry for that.
I would also like to thank Prof. Widowati Siswomihardjo, for her support during this Ph.D. training.
My sincere appreciation extends to dr. Ekawaty L. Haksari, M.Ph, Sp.A(K) for her willingness and contribution to my clinical research.
Thank you for the former member of BME that I missed so much, Joanna,
Song, Anna, Brian (as well as Feifei). Joanna, a beautiful Portuguese lady,
thank you so much for the support, our talks, many many lunches, and coffee breaks. I wish you success and happiness. I regret that I could never visit you and Gizmo when you were in Toulouse. Anna and Song, the sweetest couple in BME. Song, my former office roommate. You always had smiles whatever happened to you (you know you had spread great vibe in the office with that). Thank you for always having time to answer my question, not to mention the random ones (vampire Chinese movies!!), and being a good listener. I wish you success with your company and reunite soon with Anna and Kevin. Anna, your directness never fails to surprise me. Thank you so much for our talks, inviting me for Chinese dinners and letting me to know Kevin since he was in your belly. I wish you all the best in life, together with Song and Kevin and I wish we could meet again in the future. Brian and Feifei, my former office roommates and my sweet neighbours! Brian, you were eager to help me with anything. Thank you for being a sweet officemate (and neighbour). Our talk about Chinese movies together with Song was incredible. Thank you for inviting me to your place for playing game, party, everything. You and Feifei are a special couple for me. I wish you both success in life.
My thanks also go to the lab member/former member who had given their contribution to my research. Stefan and Ferdi, thank you for the great collaboration in the nano-pillared research project, sharing your knowledge and your bench in the lab. Brandon, thank you for sharing your expertise in LLCT and helping me with the confocal works. Your insight comments were helpful.
Ed, thank you for your assistance in two-photon microscopy. Jan, thank you for
sharing your knowledge in your coating method. Qihui, thank you for helping me with the plasma treatment.
My office roommates, René R, Vera, and Yafei. René, the sporty guy. Thank you for being a nice office roommate, sharing talks (your bunny was the most interesting one), and helping me (a lot!!) with the confocal works. I hope you can finish you PhD soon and keep in touch despite the distance. Thank you for everything. Vera, the sweet Italian girl. Thank you for sharing the office with
me, for your invitation making tiramisu and pasta (finally I found the best tiramisu!). I wish you good luck with your PhD!! Yafei, since you joined the lab, I never felt alone at work whether on the weekend or later in the evening. Thank you for being a nice office mate. I will miss you all. Please keep in touch. Sharing the department with you all was the best experience in my life. BME
colleagues, A big thanks to you all, for the corridor chit-chats, conversation
about science, culture, and countless coffee breaks: Yi Wen, Gulcan, Victor,
Can, Hilde, Deepak, Rebecca, Sara, Steven, Akshay, Philip, Simon, Kiraan, Yong, JP, Philip, Can, Xiaoxiang, Aryan, Felipe, Lu, Collin, Jeroen, Gwenda, Mayeul, Yori.
Living far away from home does not mean that you are alone. I would like to thank the people who had given their support in special ways. Grup Sayur
Lodeh (Amirah, Doti, Putri, Neily, Mas Auliya, Mbak Astri, Mbak Awalia, Mas Yayok, Mas Didik, Ferro, Morita. Thank you all for keeping me alive
and sane with jokes, lunches, having discussions about the unimportant things that were beyond my expectation. I hope our friendship last forever. Mbak
Astri, I know that you want me to write more than one paragraph for you but I
failed :D. I wish you the very best for every step that you choose in life and I hope you can finish your PhD soon. Putri, sometimes I ran to your office to bother you by my story of experiments (the failed ones), asked you to take coffee breaks (you know what I mean:D), and for the appointments to stay late in the office for work. Thank you for everything. Auliya, Neily, Almira, The family of Suwantika. Sharing the house with you was one of the best decisions I did in Groningen. Almira, the determined bayikkk I have ever seen. Thank you for colouring my days in Groningen. Your movie channels (Playmobil, my little pony) were more than enough to defeat my stress. I wish you the very best of all the new ventures my dear Almira. Mackenzie, thank you for letting me stay several times at your place in Leiden. Your board game collections are amazing!! I missed playing the board game together with you and Amirah until 3 am.
Valentina, the Italian girl with her blue eyes, thank you for never complaining
whenever I went to your office having random things with Amirah:D., Mbak
Dessy, you taught me how to survive, thank you!!, Mbak Nina Ariani, thank
you for your support, I miss you!, Ewoud, thank you for your help, support, and everything, Carlos, thank you- thank you for everything, Tyas, I wish you good luck with your Ph.D., Mas Yudha, the most humourist orthopaedic surgeon, your jokes are incredible, Lucas, Mas Dedi, Adhyat & Nuri (and
Zidni), Isom & Zenith, Tya, Adhi, Erica, Riza & Gebby, Widi, Hegar, Bude Ari & Om Herman, Aizati and EeSoo. Thank you all for your help,
support and the warm friendship.
I would also like to thank all the staff of the Department of Microbiology,
Faculty of Medicine, UGM. Thank you for accepting me in the lab during my
research there. Big thanks to Mbak Mulyani, for taking care of my samples in Indonesia.
I was lucky to know the people who like family to me which let themselves to be called as Tante and Oom, Tante Milly & Oom Ralph. Thank you for letting me stay in your place and your warm family since my first time in the Netherlands. Coming to your place anytime I wanted was the best policy you have granted to me. You both are great listeners, kind-hearted, and supportive. Your family was the best to reduce my homesickness.
Last but never the least, I would like to thank to my family. Om Yi, Ta Nani,
Tante Emma, Om Amu, Inci, Om Elli. Terima kasih untuk semua doa,
support, dan kasih sayang yang telah diberikan kepada saya dan keluarga. Semoga kelak saya bisa membalas semua kebaikan yang telah diberikan. Terima kasih sudah mengasuh saya sedari kecil, menanamkan segala didikan dan kebaikan kepada saya. Uti and Upik, and to my only brother, Wawan, thank to you all for your immense support. I would like to thank to my parents-in law,
Bapak dan Ibu, terima kasih untuk semua dukungan, doa dan kasih sayang yang
telah diberikan kepada saya dan Mas Is. Mama dan Papa, terima kasih untuk semua pengorbanan, doa, motivasi dan kasih sayang yang tiada habisnya. Apa yang saya dapatkan sekarang tidak akan pernah bisa membalas semua kasih sayang yang telah mama papa berikan. Terima kasih untuk semuanya.
Mas Akbar, my dear husband, I am thankful for your unconditional love,
support, and amazing patience. You have patiently endured and survived many long hours alone while I was abroad, or worked on my dissertation. Thank you with all my heart and soul. I love you to the moon and (of course!) back. I dedicate this thesis to the loving memory of my grandparents, who were raising and imbibing me to value education above all. You are deeply missed! I love you!
