Barbieri Thesis - BioMedical Materials program (BMM)

Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments
These have been exciting years. Feelings were like a roller coaster: sudden changes
like sharp U–bends, steep climbs to high peaks and descents to deep valleys. Every
day was different, had its stories. Every day I learnt something new. From life, from
people, from the lab. Each of them contributed to my growth.
Firstly, I wish to thank Dr. Yuan. 袁惠品, I will never forget the phone interview we
had years ago: I simply hung it down. And I thought I just burnt the opportunity to go
abroad. But then, surprisingly, you accepted me for the project. That is how our paths
met. During these years you have taught me that simplicity is the key in everything.
You shared your ideas and experiments with me and let me feel your trust. You kept
my feet on the ground when needed, but you also let me feel good. You gave me full
independence to plan and ‘play’ in the lab to try and learn new things. You taught me
about scientifically thinking and writing interesting stories. You showed me that we
could link all our experiments, which at first glance were disconnected with each
other. In a nutshell, you played a key role in my working life and I believe that you
gave your best to me. Also, you cooked delicious Sichuan food! 谢谢.
Prof. de Bruijn. Joost, I am really amazed to see how you could combine science with
business so well. Your double–sided skills are something surprising: you run a
company and are also a scientist. You are an excellent boss who created such a
cheerful and harmonious atmosphere in Xpand! It is a pleasure to work there. On the
other side, you are also an excellent scientist, and gave me many suggestions, ideas
and help to improve myself. Together 袁惠品 , you let me grow as scientist. Dank.
Xiaoman. You are a surprising guy! Every day I discover something new from you.
Your meticulousness and continuous self–questioning about everything infected me. It
saved me from doing rough mistakes sometimes. Thank you for all the long
discussions we had on polymers and cells. Your advices and help in the lab were gold
for me. Thank you for guiding me in the crowd of Chengdu. I hope we can keep good
friendship in future. I wish you success with your research!
I would like to thank the ‘Purac guys’: Michiel van Alst, Marc–Anton Kruft and Carolien
Geurts. Your contribution, both with polymer supplying and polymer science
background, to this thesis has been fundamental. And thanks for inviting me at the
conference in Dublin! I am grateful to the people from the BST group at the University
of Twente: Prof. Grijpma, you have been a very good adviser, and your critics were
really helpful and pushed me to further improve the work. Anita and Hetty, ladies,
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