All my co-authors; Thank you, I have really enjoyed working together.
Especially, Kathryn “Katie” Jacksson, for being such a good friend for a lonely swede in the U.S. For your impressive engagement to science and your biochemical skills. Thanks also for improving my everyday morning coffee. Espen Spangenburg, for being a great mentor during my time at UMD. Your molecular knowledge and your great humor (even though you have some Norwegian DNA in you…). Thomas Gustafsson, I will never forget the first time I met you, during my time as a master student you came in 15 min late with blood on your scrubs and held one of the best lectures I had during my studies at KI. You always keep impressing me with your knowledge and ideas. Helené Rundqvist, your knowledge and your dedication to research is impressive and I admire it a lot. Helené Fischer, your great willingness to help. For not laughing to hard at my stupid questions and for letting me know that it is ok to fail sometimes…and for putting your glasses in the freezer. Ferdinand von Walden, from “elektivansvarig” to colleague, friend and now also collaboration partner.
Father of three, teacher, scientist and medical doctor doing your internship, you still find motivation to push exercise research forward, that I will always admire. Thanks for all great discussions and laughter we shared. Björn Alkner, thank you for good and fun collaborations and your generosity. You are the one that will put Eksjö on the Swedish map!
Mika Venojärvi, thanks for a good collaboration in the Nordic Walking study.
Great colleagues and friends;
Especially, Mia Ydfors, thank you for being such a good friend. For making work fun, for all our joint training sessions and discussion about life. All the fun we have had at work but particularly outside of academia. I really appreciate everything we have done together and all the help you have given me during our years together at KI. We have very different personalities, you and I, and I admire your calm, clearness and patience. Working with you has made me a better scientist. Thank you so much for putting up with my stupid questions and computerdyslexia. Thank you also for being a “Skatteverket support”, without you my company would have been accused of tax-fraud. You are one of the smartest persons I know and I hope that our paths will cross again in the future and that we will always be friends.
Maléne Lindholm, it has been a true pleasure working with you, but the shoes you left were too big for me to fill… Your scientific work will always be something I respect and you have over and over again truly impressed me with your work and skills. Also, thank you for all the fun parties and for teaching me about life, politics, molecular methods, wine and how to do a nice lap dance.
Susanna Appel, Thank you so much for all the fun that we have had. For great scientific discussions, for being there in good and bad, for great laughs and lastly for teaching me about makeup and clothing J. Your engagement in teaching has always inspired me and you have pushed me to be a better teacher. Your method skills are always something I will be slightly jealous about, but please do not tell anyone…Charlotte Schönbeck, fast as a shark both on the track and in making stuff happen, a true “doer”. Thank you for keeping the whole lab organized. You are a great listener and friend and I really appreciate everything we have done together, at work and outside. Mark Chapman, how old are you, truly? Youngest in the lab but with impressive CV and knowledge. Your kindness, scientific engagement and smartness is admirable as well as your bad humor. I learned a lot from you. Thank you also for teaching me about the importance of having clean shoes and why you should dress in non-training cloth at work. Hope our scientific path will cross in the future. Stefan Reitzner, thank you for letting me provoke and tease you, I have always wanted a baby brother… It is going to be a true pleasure following your PhD and your scientific career. Eat, sleep, train, repeat. Your training motivation and dedication will always be something that I am jealous about. Sara Mijwel, for always being so positive. Your calm and patience has numerous times blessed the environment at the office. I am impressed about your hard training and you know that I would do anything to have your hair J . I know that your PhD will be a true success and I hope we can work together in the future. Helena Wallin, a.k.a. 36an. Thanks for the fun times we had, mostly outside the academia, and for sometimes letting me at least win one or two balls but never a full game in squash. Thanks also for our joined teaching experience in Vietnam trying to spread the fact that “Exercise is Medicine”. Sandra Omidvar, you are crazy, smart and almost annoyingly strong. Always positive and just awesome, so young (10 y younger than me… ???) yet so impressive. Hope that you will stay within the exercise field in the future and that our path will cross again. Joel Svensson, thanks for a lot of fun and intellectual and very non-intellectual discussions. Chang Liu, thanks for always being so helpful in the lab.
Past and present colleagues at FyFa;
Ellinor Kenne, for being an excellent mentor and a good friend. For sharing all your experience and thoughts and for providing me with a lot of teaching experience. You are a big source of inspiration. Lars Karlsson, a.k.a Larkorv, thank you for all the fun we have
scientists at FyFa who understand that the muscle tissue is the shit; Håkan Westerblad, Johanna Lanner, Niklas Ivarsson. Also, thanks to Rodrigo Fernandez Gonzalo, for all the fun we have had during all our joint conferences, you stunned me with your brilliance and I know that you will return to Sweden and kick ass in the field of exercise physiology. Thanks to senior scientists, the “oldies”; Lennart Lindbom, Bo Rydqvist, Mats Rundgren, Lars Gustafsson, Dag Linnarsson, Stefan Eriksson and Jan Lännergren for interesting lunch conversations and sharing your life experiences. Thanks to the most important people at the department who makes all the teaching possible, Sofia Pettersson, Eva Lindgren, Maximilian Carlsson Norlin, Karariina Välimäki and Peter Wolf. Without you I would have been lost. Sofia Pettersson, also a big thank for being a true friend and training partner.
The financial administration, especially Camilla Fors-Holmberg. Marie-Louise Sundin for all your help with courses and other administrative stuff. Thanks also to Iréne Lund, Robert Frithiof, Lena Norrbrand, Micke Elm, Anna Feldrich, Elisabet Sterner-Victorin and Anders Arner for important discussions regarding zebra fishes, teeth and oral microbiomes, night vision goggles, pig kidneys, how to anesthetize a sheep, pain, burglary and kite surfing.
And the biggest of thanks to all of you that I might have forgot to thank.
Past and present members of the “muscle lab” at Labmed Huddinge; Eva Jansson, for sharing your experience, expertise and knowledge within the exercise physiology field. Anna Strömberg, for fun and intellectual and un-intellectual discussions. I admire your hard work and motivation through all your years of studying for different degrees. Thank you also for correcting all my miss-spellings. Håkan Rundqvist, for great fun both at work and outside.
Thanks also for all our discussions regarding training and for pushing me to start my own company. Tommy Lundberg, for always making me laugh and for all the scientific discussions we have had and the more or less insane ones. Thanks also for pointing out my love towards Mia in such a clear way J. Thanks also to Anna Wiik, Erik Rullman, Mats Lilja, Seher Alam, Ted Österlund, Karl Olsson, Barbara Norman, Mona Esbjörnsson, Maria Westerståhl, Elisabeth Berg, Majken Lidén and Andreas Montelius.
All my wonderful friends, especially you Lina Halldin. Without you I would have been lost so many times. You are my sister in arms and my forever deepest friend. You have been with me through good and bad times and I know that I always can trust you for speaking your honest mind. Thanks for your support, guidance and positivism and for always pushing me to be a better version of myself. You are of great value to me and I love you dearly.
“Tisdagsklöbb´n”, thanks for all your support and for all the crazy times we have had and for all your children that gives me so much joy.
“Juntan”, from DUKA and beyond, you will always be my true friends and F2F-discussion- forum, and thanks for always speaking your minds and letting me pick your brains.
To all the members of the Sällstedt, Gidlund, Landervik, Swenson and Nylén families for great support over the years, especially you Dad and Mom.
Dad, I wish you got the chance to see this book, I know that you would not have read it but that’s ok…the only thing I ever saw you read was the newspaper, always in the opposite order from the end to the beginning. Thank you for always believing in me, bragging about me and making me blush even though I did not deserve it. For your tremendous kindness and all the laughter we shared. All the times you drove me to practice or to a game. I really miss you, your hugs and all the phone calls with fun discussions we have had over the years.
Sometimes I truly think I still can hear you whistling. You were a true fighter and I will always admire that. Nothing was ever too hard for you. Wherever you are, I want you to know that you are always with me in my heart.
Mom, I have no words that can express my gratitude to you. All your support during the years growing up and during all of my years studying. Your warmth, kindness and love is beyond what I disserve. Your patience, determination and your curiosity to learn new things (if not connected to IT) is admirable and inspiring. Your knowledge about history is undisputable but I am so glad that you have found a new interest in genetics and the magic code that is called DNA. You are a fantastic grandmother and you have a heart the size of an ocean.
My dear brother Marcus, 12-years older than me, you have managed the role not only as a brother but also as a mentor and sometimes my extra dad. Thank you for letting me be totally honest when we discuss life even though we usually not agree on everything. I know that I can always count on your support. My dear sister Hanna, thank you for all the love and warmth, your positive thinking and for believing in me even though you have no clue what I am doing J. I love your attitude towards life, that everything is possible for everyone! Your creativity is an important contribution to the Sällstedts family.
shared, vacations and more or less crazy dinners. Thanks for putting my life in perspective.
You will always have a place in my heart. Also, an extra thanks to my mentor Eric Nylén, for your contributions to my scientific development and for welcoming me with open arms.
You may be one of the few who actually read this thesis. For making me understand that worlds like “utomjording” is quite fun when you come to think of it and for sticking to 1970s Swedish language. Thanks also for providing me with interesting books and for opening my eyes to important stuff outside academia. You and your family have made an important imprint on my life.
Tobias, my love, my husband and dearest friend.
I was 18 years old when I met you. The most important meeting in my life, and it was not even scheduled!
Thank you for always believing in me, your support, love and kindness. All the laugher we share and the life we have built together.
I so enjoy experiencing the world together with you and hope we will continue to build long lasting memories.
Lastly, thank you for making me a better person. For lifting me up when I was down and for carrying me when times have been tough.
This thesis is also yours.
Tuva-Li and hopefully all you future kids, du/ni är det enda som verkligen betyder något här i livet. Visste inte hur mycket jag kunde älska någon förrän du/ni kom. Tack för att du/ni gör mig mer klarsynt och mindre jobb-sugen.
Lastly never forget that;
Det är bättre att ta ut en seger i förskott än att aldrig få fira (citat Lars-Gunnar Bengtsson), och kom ihåg att alla har det svårt ibland, så möt människor med en positiv attityd och ett leende.
Sist men inte minst, att skriva en avhandling är förenat med ökad risk för förtidig död så stå upp när du skriver den!