University of Groningen
Engineering amidases for peptide C-terminal modification Arif, Muhammad Irfan
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Publication date: 2018
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Arif, M. I. (2018). Engineering amidases for peptide C-terminal modification. University of Groningen.
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Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments
Research cannot be done alone so I am indebted to a lot of people who in one or the other way helped this work become a reality.
First of all, I want to thank my promoter, Prof. D.B. Janssen. You were eager to take me as your team member. I was fortunate to work under your guidance. Your support has been the key ingredient in the completion of this thesis from start to end. You gave me the confidence and always urged me to ‘think and think again’, and be critical. You never hesitated to address any problems I faced during my stay, whether academically or socially. Even after I left the Netherlands, you supported me for which I can never express my gratitude in words.
I am also thankful to the members of the assessment committee, Prof, A.J.M. Driessen, Prof. J. Kok, and Prof. G. Eggink for reviewing my thesis. I am really grateful to Dr. Engel Vrieling in helping and guiding me to enroll at the university. Your quick response via emails was really helpful to put me in contact with Prof. Janssen. I would also like to thank Sandra for dealing with administrative tasks, you were always willing to help me.
I am highly indebted to Peter Quaedflieg from DSM, Geleen. Your supportive and encouraging attitude always made me feel comfortable at our meetings. I am indebted to your valuable suggestions and input provided during our meetings and dinners. It was a pleasure working with you. I am also thankful to Timo Nuijens for useful suggestions and providing me with substrates for my enzymes.
I am grateful to Gerrit Poelarends. You gave me many helpful pieces of advice when I started working in the Lab. You guided me with making my very first gene library. We had very useful discussions and it was a pleasure to work with you. I am also thankful to Fabrizia Fusetti from membrane enzymology group for helping me to find the first peptide amidase from plant database. I am thankful to Wiktor Szymanski for nice suggestions during work discussions and contributions to this work. I want to thank Hein Wijma. Much of this work would not have been possible without you. You were always eager to provide your computational input. I am thankful to Wu Bian. You helped me a lot in planning this work. You have a very nice way of managing difficult tasks. Many thanks to Piet as well who was always there for technical support.
I am grateful to my friends, Ana, Christiaan, Ciprian, and Jan. You made my stay enjoyable in the lab and I can never forget you guys. Ana, you shared my office and I always found your company helpful and invigorating. You were my chemical help and you have contributed a lot to this work as well. Christiaan, you were always there to help me both as a colleague and as a friend. Also, I am indebted to you for writing the Dutch summary. Ana and Christiaan, thanks again for being my paranimfs and arranging the defense ceremony. Ciprian, you helped me a lot when I was leaving the Netherlands. Jan
Acknowledgments
and Emilie, we shared quality time in Groningen. I enjoyed working with you at NMR machine and playing ping pong. I am also thankful to my colleagues, Chiara, Roga, Alja, Cynthia, Thai, Anette, Gosia, Marcus, Robert, Mathew. Your company gave me comfort and encouragement during my stay.
I am also thankful to my Pakistani friends, Adnan, Samin, Arslan, Ikram, Umar, Ahson, and Rizwan. Hassan, you helped me in traveling from Karachi to Islamabad before coming to the Netherlands. Ikram, Umar, Ahson, and Rizwan, I am happy that we are connected together even after returning to Pakistan and you have always pushed me every time to write and complete my thesis. I cannot thank enough my dear class fellows Tanveer and Nadia. It is their continuous encouragement that kept me on track for this long time. The first word uttered by Tanveer whenever we met was ‘thesis’, which really pushed me to keep going on with the writing. I am also thankful to my class fellows Naseem and Mukhtar for constant encouragement during my stay in Pakistan.
I am thankful to Higher Education Commission of Pakistan for the scholarship that helped me in starting my PhD studies in Netherlands. I wish that the program continues and more people get to learn the modern ways of research and living.
I can never thank enough my dear wife, Erum, who stood along with me in hard times and always kept her trust in me. When I wanted to leave Pakistan for Groningen, you gave me the courage to go on with my studies. You supported me during my bachelors, masters, and then going for PhD. When all my family was against me, you stood by me, had confidence in me and always pushed me to write, write and write. And for taking care of our kids when I was busy staring at the screen. My children, Malaikah, Saad, and Anika, especially Anika who was always asking me, ‘How many pages left?’.
I am also thankful to Dr. Shakeel Ahmad Khan from Microbiology department, University of Karachi. You inspired me to go for a PhD. Your encouragement and support were crucial in getting my first job in Pakistan and then applying for a PhD scholarship with HEC.
I feel proud to be the first person in my family who completed Masters and then carried on to the doctorate. I would like to thank again all my friends, colleagues and family for continuous encouragement and support. At the end, I want to say that this is not the end. Learning never stops and my journey doesn’t end with a PhD. As Dr. Allama Iqbal said: ہیں بھی روا ںجہا گےٓا سے ںورستا متحاا کے عشق بھیا ہیں بھی روا ں
