Five
years ago I joined the PhD program in Computational Biology (PDBC) hosted by
the Gulbenkian Institute for Science for what turned out to be the longest and
more challenging professional project so far.
I
want to start by thanking the PDBC direction and in particular Jorge Carneiro
for believing in my abilities and giving me the opportunity to pursuit a PhD
project in a field of my choice. I also thank you Manuela Cordeiro for being
always available to help sorting out any bureaucratic details.
I
would also like to acknowledge the financial support I received from the
Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Siemens SA Portugal and Fundação
Calouste Gulbenkian, which sponsored my enrolment in PDBC, financed my PhD
project and allowed my participation in national and international conferences.
I
thank you my main supervisor, Dr Jan-Ulrich Kreft for welcoming me in his group,
for his guidance and teaching (and perseverance), for the exhausting and living
discussions, for his negative and positive feedback, all of which contributed
to build up my critical spirit. I would
also like to thank you Professor Chris Thomas, my co-supervisor, for taking
time in sharing his vast and detailed knowledge on plasmid biology and advice
on experimental design, for listening and discussing my project ideas.
Most
of my time at the University of Birmingham was spent in the Centre for Systems
Biology surrounded by open-minded and creative people with whom I have shared
many healthy laughs but also deep scientific discussions. In particular, I would like to thank you my
fellow PhD students Dorota, Bhima, Chinmay, Olga, Rafik, Ralf and Rob and our
past post-doc Susanne for their sincere friendship and support. I also want to thank you Claudia, Francis,
Hansong, Pedro, Roshini and Sudha for their friendship and for fulfilling my
free time with high quality humour and organizing outstanding social and
musical events!
Many
thanks must also go to all the members of the T101 Lab in the School of
Biosciences, which welcomed me in their lab meetings, helped me finding space
to set up my lab bench and introduced me to all the central services routines. I also thank you the members of Professor
Chris Thomas' group for the help with the strain and plasmid collections.
I
would also like to thank you my past students, namely Hayley Gibbins and Zuha
Khan, for the fulfilling experience of teaching basic plasmid biology and microbiology
techniques and witnessing their evolution towards autonomous undergraduate
researchers.
I
also want to thank you my fellow colleagues from the PDBC 2007 edition, namely
Afonso, Assunção, Bruno, Hugo F., Hugo M., Paula, Ricardo, Rodrigo, Susana and
Zé, for making the first year of PDBC such a lively time and for their
companionship throughout the tough project assignments.
I
heartily thank you my parents and grandparents for their life lessons, for
their relentless support and unconditional love, for their encouragement to
pursuit my dreams wherever they might take me, and for taking care of my
financial needs during the writing up period of my PhD thesis.
Finally,
I want to thank you my beloved boyfriend, Nuno, for his relentless support to
all my endeavours, for listening, for seeing the best in
me and above all for loving me with no reservations. Thank you for taking the risk of coming to UK
to work and live with me, for making it a memorable year and lighting up my
soul in my weakest moments.
Obrigado!
