The last chapter somehow was the most difficult and emotional one to write. This brought me back to memories during these years living in Sweden and the Netherlands since 2007. The most important message here is that I am thankful for the chance that I could contribute and dedicate myself for research, although it is hard that I have been so far away from home. Cannot stop being sentimental that I met and made so many friends from different countries and you made my life colorful and cheerful. I would like to thank for your warm friendship and supporting. I couldn’t name all of you but you are always in my mind.
First of all, I would like to thank and express my sincerely gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Egbert Oosterwijk for accepting me as a member of MultiTERM and Urology. You have been very kind and patient with me, since we have encountered cultural conflictions and spent hours and hours arguing if I wrote from the right side or you wrote from the left side. You always solve problems with you special humors. You help me grow and become a researcher.
I would like to thank Dr. Nicoline Geverink, my project manager. Thanks for arranging everything for me, including my first room, registration, tax reduction, family caring leave, and so on. You were the first person I talked to and you opened my eyes. I like your straightforward and cheerful traits. I admire your talent in theatre performance, as well as in life and in science. You made me an honest person with my life.
I would like to express my gratitude to Prof. Dr. Wout Feitz and Dr. Paul Geutjes. Thanks for being my supervisors and supporting all my projects during my training. Special thanks to Paul. You helped me out with my first article. You and Dorien Tiemessen transferred all the essential knowledge and untold skills to me for tissue engineering. Both of you have been always cheerful and helpful in the tissue engineering team.
My research life would be even harder without your helping at Urology. I like to thank to the hard core research team, Prof. Jack Schalken, Kees Jansen, Onno van Hooij, Maureen Voller, Renate Rasolo, Jeanette Oosterwijk-Wakka, Marion van der Putten, and Elze Verbeek-Camps. Special thanks to Tilly Aalders, you are always heart-warming and helpful. You and Dr. Jens Ceder taught me everything about immunohistochemistry. We made so many beautiful staining and we spent so much time in that icy cold cutting machine together. Besides works, we shared many interesting and exciting stories about lives and our common interests. You introduced me the Dutch culture in a stimulating way.- Plus, privately I admire your appearance and your talent in creating. Additionally I would like to thank Mirjam de Weijert. You helped me with my last experiments at Urology. You have been always patient and you are an organized person. I wish I could be the same as you. Thanks Dr. Gerald Verhaegh, our Guru, that you gave my email address to Kjeld.
Special thanks to Huib Croes at Microscope Imaging Centre (MIC) and Irene Otto- Höller at Department of Pathology for guiding me and let me use microscopes. I enjoy it very much. We made so many the beautiful and colourful figures at different scales. Thanks for letting me stay with the equipments till late and let me see the possibilities of creating art from science.
I would like to thank to Department of Biochemistry, especially to Dr. Willeke Daamen for the use of facilities. Elly Versteeg, Dr. Katrien Brouwer, and Dr. Henk Hoogenkamp, thanks for your help in developing collagen scaffolds. You helped me out with several crisis moments of frizzed drying.
I would like to acknowledge Department of Radiology, and particularly I would like to thank Prof. Arend Heerschap, Dr. Yi Sun, and Andor Veltien. Thanks Prof. Arend for your expert supervising and supporting. Your profound knowledge helped me out and clarified the myth of MRI. Dear Yi, thanks for the collaboration. You have been my good friend and colleague. You cured my homesick by introducing many good restaurants in the Netherlands. It was my honor to be your paranymph. Andor thanks for your technical support of MRI. Otherwise I and Yi would spend even more time in the prime.
This work will not be possible without the help from Central Animal Laboratory (CDL) and the Preclinical Imaging Centre (PRIME). I would like to ackonwledge Daphne Reijnen, Debby Smit, Bianca Lemmers-van de Weem, Henk, Kitty, and Jerone Mooren. In particular, I like to thank Bianca. Thanks for teaching me how to do a proper animal study. You have been so patient with me and watched over my shoulder during the operation. I would also like to thank to Henk and Kitty for your technical supporting and helping. Actually I was so nervous about your phone-call during the weekend.
I would like to acknowledge Tissue Biology Research Unit, the university Zurich, particularly Prof. Ernst Reichmann for accepting me to do a month internship at your laboratory. I also like to thank Dr. Agnes S. Klar, Dr. Simonetta Scola, Dr. Daniela Marino, and Dr. Luca Pontiggia. Thanks for your hospitality and guiding while my internship. I had a very fruitful time in the laboratory of Skin tissue engineering. Special thanks to Agnes that our article was finally published after four-year incubation.
My sincere thanks to all international students and researchers I met at Urology, Dr. Rizal Hamid, Dr. Minja Pfeiffer, Ola Dudek-Madej (+ Wojciech Madej), Tinahong Cheng, Ruiqi Han, Isabell Arndt, Dr. Hiroshi Tsuruta, Vicky Luna Velez (+ Benny Harich), Dr. Silvia Link (+ Dr. Dennis Link), Jasmijn van Kampen (+ Rob Vogel), and Cindy Ronnau (+ Pedro Pinto). You delighted my life in Nijmegen. Dear Rizal, you are my partner in crime for sure. We shared common frustration and struggling
about PhD lives. I am glad to see that you became a very good researcher and you are a wonderful father and a medical doctor. Dear Ola, you have been my best friend and thanks for inviting me to your home town and to your wedding. I could understand much better why you love it. It’s such a charming and historical city. Dear Tina, you are a sweet and cute girl. We shared some crazy moments together. I hope to see you soon. Dear Isabell, we spent very good time together in Nijmegen and Köln. Thanks for your hospitality and support while I was sad. You are the only girl I know could drink 5L of beer at once. Dear Vicky, you are always so cheerful and sparkling. I wish I could be half of your spirit. I like the light radiates from you and Benny. You are a talented photographer and thanks for letting me being your model. Dear Silvia, I wish you are here much earlier. Thanks for helping me at the final phase of my PhD training. Dear Jasmijn and Cindy, we had very pleasant time in Krakow and I enjoyed your company very much.
I would also like to acknowledge the laboratory of tissue engineering at the University Hospital Basel, in particular Prof. Ivan Martin for accepting me as a guest. Thanks R. Osinga for your guiding in stem cell isolating. Thanks Dr. Benjamin Pippenger and Dr. Paul Bourgine for being good MultiTERM partners. I felt welcome at your territory.
For the best colleagues who provide a pleasant working environment, I would like to thank Marije Sloff, Paul de Jonge, Peter Janke, and Dr. Luis Fernando Arenas. Dear Marije, we shared a room in Vienna and it was a wonderful trip for me (was it for work?). You play beautiful music and hope we have other chance to play together in the future. Dear Peter, you showed me the craziest wedding ever. There were just too much broken ceramics and foams. Also all interns, Gijs Rikken, Tamar Wissing, and Linde Zhou. I appreciate your help and contribution to the project. It was nice to have you here. To the interns who became Dr., Dr. Rianne Lammers, Dr. Marielle Walraven, and Julia Odenthal. Thanks for being supportive at my first year. Special thanks to Rianne, you introduced the piano teacher, Sabestiaan Oosterhout to me and also help me with other small but essential things to live in Nijmegen properly.
Living in the Netherlands for six years and I am still learning Dutch. My Dutch learning partners, Dr. Wei Ji, Dr. Alokta Chakrabarti, and Dr. Kukiat Tudpor. Thanks for sharing your important moments with me. Dear Alokta, thanks for inviting me to your wedding, but I was not capable to be there. I was really sorry about it. Dear Wei, thanks for inviting me to your promotion party. I was impressed by your strength and intelligence. Dear Kukiat, if I know you are a good physical therapist earlier, I would already ask for your help.
I would like to thank to all MultiTERM partners, especially Dr. Manuela Ventura and Dr. Sujit Kootala who shared nice friendships. Although we don’t see each other very often, we had lots of fun after each meeting. Dear Manuela, thanks for letting
me in your circle of friends. We did try to sport together several times, but it didn’t work out. We shared room every time during the MultiTERM meeting. You were a very pleasant roommate and I enjoyed your company. Nijmegen became less without you.
I would like to express my gratitude to Department of Materials Chemistry, Uppsala University, particularly Prof. Jöns Hilborn, Dr. Oommen Varghese, Dr. Dimitri Ossipov, and Dr. Elena Martinez Sanz. Thanks for letting me being part of the project and I enjoyed my intern in the laboratory. You have changed the cold and dark Sweden into a heart-warming place. Special thanks to Elena. Dear Elena, you have been my close friend in Uppsala and we stayed as friends to support each other in the cold winter. I miss you very much.
Living in the Netherlands as a foreigner is not easy, and fortunately I have you around. Thanks all Taiwanese and their partners for your hospitality and catering. I feel like to home again. Special thanks to YaSuei Cheng and Rutger Blekkink, Kevin Liao and Ruud de Vries, and Dr. Wei-Ta Wu and Lyn Chou. You have been my best friends and I really enjoy your company. Let us keep our cooking club survive and thrive.
Besides my work, I would like to thank my music group. Special thanks to Kees Jansen. I found my oboe teacher, Danielle Smits, at your Easter concert. Dear Danielle, I really like your lessons and you are always so kind and friendly. Dear Frank Rademaker and Mirjam Kampermann, thanks for accepting me in the trio group. We will make more beautiful music together.
Finally I would like to thank my family in the Netherlands. Thank you, Kjeld, the big Daddy, for being my family and let me in the Hou-family. Your love and helping are the most essential pillars supported me. You even translated my general discussion and summary for this book. Thanks for being there for me while I was deeply sad and helpless. You held my hands and pulled me out of that dark swamp. At the end of this year will be a beginning of our new lives. I look forwards to becoming a member of Hou. നࡕаϷന߃ाགᖴޑࢂךޑৎΓаϷܻ϶Ǵᚆ໒Ѡчޑ೭ΖԃٰǴวғΑ ӭ٣ǴԶךࠅόӧգॺޑيᜐǴόፕғǵԴǵੰǵԝǴӭ׆ఈךૈਔਔڅڅഉ ӧգॺޑيǶᚆ໒ዕޑᕉნٰډኻࢪۺਜаϷπբǴޔࢂך܌ኆኊǴᚆ ໒ਔΨวᇣाոΚπբᏢಞǴόा੮ΠᒪᏬǴӢԜԃѝԖอኩӦଶ੮ӧѠǴ ਔ໔อډೱѠޑᡂϯך࣮όమΑǴԋߏޑβӦϸԶᡂԋനዕࠅΞനढ़ғ ޑӦБǶՠգॺޑӸӧᆶЍǴᡣךԖৎёӣǴόፕࢂז܈ࢂᜤၸǴѝाགྷ ଆգॺЈ္൩ཪǴ೭ኬ൩ΑǶ!
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