Mylène Jansen

428 I would like to take this opportunity to thank people I collaborated with internationally as well. Fiona and Tonia , thank you for your great work on the synovial fluid analyses, thanks to you I learned more about a topic somewhat different from what I usually work on and I enjoyed being involved in it. Felix and Wolfgang , thank you for allowing me to work with you on multiple MRI-related research topics and for your helpful input and feedback on results and manuscripts. I am happy I got to do some interesting research on OA imaging during my PhD and that was partially thanks to you. To that end, I would also like to thank Jamie and Tom , for introducing me to new methods to analyze MRI and CT images, for your always fast and helpful responses to my questions, and the effort and energy you put into helping me understand these interesting topics. I hope I will get to collaborate with all of you more in the future. I would like to thank my friends , who perhaps did not directly influence the content of this thesis, but have been very important to me these past years. My friends from school, university, and student associations, old board members and roommates, friends from Utrecht and from Trani, teammates from Sporting and the ‘C.O.I.ONE’: thank you for all the coffee, beer, wine, cocktails, dinners, parties, sports, and talks, for days of relaxing and laughing (grazie per le belle giornate ed i caffé e gli aperitivi 'volontariamente' pagati). Mijn hele familie , broer en ouders en hun partners wil ik ook graag bedanken voor hun steun. Mam en pap , jullie hebben altijd het volste vertrouwen in alles wat ik doe en wil bereiken. Van jongs af aan hebben jullie mij aangemoedigd en mijn wil om nieuwe dingen te leren en te ontdekken gestimuleerd. Ik weet heel goed dat ik zonder jullie nooit zo ver was gekomen. Nick , ‘klein broertje’, ik ben heel blij en dankbaar dat we nog steeds zo gezellig samen spelen als we vroeger al deden, al is dat tegenwoordig op de Playstation in plaats van buiten op straat. Grazie anche alla famiglia Cozzoli , per avermi fatto sentire a casa a Trani. Le vacanze e il buon cibo in Italia hanno sicuramente avuto un effetto posivito sul mio dottorato. Sonia , grazie per esserci sempre stata con me e per me 24 ore su 24, 7 giorni su 7. Nessuno mi fa ridere cosí tanto e cosí forte come fai tu. Grazie per il supporto e per ascoltarmi sempre, per festeggiare con me e distrarmi dal lavoro quando ne ho bisogno (o anche quando non ne ho). Sai sempre come rendermi felice, a volte meglio di me stessa. Non avrei potuto avere un partner migliore. Addendum