Stephanie van Hoppe

188 Appendices AC KNOWL E DG EME N T S You’ve now reached the most popular section of a PhD thesis - and rightfully so. We don’t perform scientific research alone and therefore, everyone who has affected this thesis, and my time as a PhD student one way or another is hereby acknowledged and thanked. I hope I won’t forget anyone, but unfortunately I most likely will, so to anyone I do forget – I’m sorry and I’ll try to make it up to you! First of all I would like to thank Alfred Schinkel for hiring me as a PhD student in your lab. Thank you for your guidance and teaching me how to be an overall better scientist. You taught me how to be more critical, efficient in my work and less impulsive. I appreciate the freedom you gave me for my experiments and projects. It goes without saying that without your input, this thesis would not be what it is. I am also very grateful to my promotor, Jos Beijnen , for your guidance and your positivity throughout my time at the NKI. Your support and encouragement are greatly appreciated. Furthermore I would like to acknowledge the members of my PhD committee: Daniel Peeper , Wilbert Zwart , Olaf van Tellingen and for a smaller period in time, Sjaak Neefjes, for keeping an eye on my progress and your support during these years. A special thank you goes to Olaf for our collaborations together on the OATP projects, even though these did not end up in this thesis, it does not take away that I am grateful for your efforts. Thank you for your generosity and allowing me to measure those hundreds of samples in your lab. Rolf Sparidans , you have been such an efficient collaborator. Thank you for measuring so many of my samples and for being super-fast with responding, whether it was answering a question or commentating on a manuscript. It was quite an honor that you came to the NKI from Utrecht to attend our presentations. Thank you for all your efforts. To my awesome paranymphs, ZelihaYalcin and Alejandra Martinez Chavez I’m glad we were able to make the small getaway to Spain together and have that as a nice memory to look back on! Zeliha , thank you so much for your support and the coffee/hot chocolate/tea breaks we had to keep the positivity up. I’m so happy I could always count on you for anything and everything. I’m glad we both ended up in the party committee of H5 during my first year which ended up in a great friendship! I admire your hard working mentality and persistency and I know you’ll have a great career ahead of you. And Alejandra , I was so happy when you started your journey in our lab with your positive attitude and kindheartedness. It was great sharing the office with you. Thank you for your support and friendship and I’m sure you’ll do great in your scientific career with your accurate mentality and willingness to collaborate. I’m so lucky to have both of you standing with me at my upcoming defense!