This was a triumph! I’m making a note here – Huge Success!
-and it would not have been possible without the love and support of a surprisingly large amount of people.
The quest to find a suitable supervisor for a PhD is a long and treacherous path, failure to do so can result in a five year odyssey rather than the exciting expedition it is supposed to be. So it was with some trepidation I stepped into my future supervisor’s office and asked “Håkan Karlsson I presume?” (I kid-you not, the exact words). They past five years we have worked together have been fantastic. I can´t imagine a better synergy between supervisor and student than we have had. I hope you stay in academia and have many more PhD students, it will be fun to be able to claim to be your first!
The experience of decades in the academia and numerous PhD students was provided by Professor Krister Kristensson. Many thanks for all the valuable advice and pointing out all the bits that were completely incomprehensible. You claim to be retired now, but I´m not sure I believe you judging by the number of hours and amount you work, keep it up for many years to come.
Dr. Yuanrong Yao, now a practicing MD in China, we still miss you as a post-doc here!
Especially your talent for brutal honesty, hopefully you will return to the research again soon. I´ll never forget, though I wish I could, those candies you brought from China.
Thanks to Professor RH Yolken, Drs. Lorraine Jones-Brando and Maree Webster over at The Johns Hopkins University and The Stanley Medical Reseach Institute. We’ve only met once or not at all, but the collaboration has been great!
Thanks to Professor François Mallet for all the valuable input and collaboration.
Ulf Wållgren, who helped remake my first attempts at writing a program to something a little more respectable.
Dr. Joanna Tyrcha and Fredrik Uhrzander for all the help with mixture models, I’m sure it taxed your patience getting past the language barrier between biologist and mathematician. It was a bit like trying to discuss points of philosophy in an alien language at times =).
To Linnéa Asp, fellow PhD under Håkans supervision and friend, it’s your turn next you know! It’s been great working with you. I must admit to being extremely thankful that you got the in vivo studies though, I’m not sure I would have the patience for them.
To all the people of the Kristensson lab, past and present, one could not hope for better colleagues. You might have to organize the lunch expeditions yourselves now. It’s hard to find a more social group of people. The coffee breaks are sanctified, to the point where I once felt I had to excuse myself for not talking more “I’m more thirsty than social”. Good luck and good health to you all (including anyone I forget to mention):
Katarina Luhr, Daniel Amin, Pernilla Ask, Elin Nordström, Gunnar Grant, Mikael Nygård, Johan Brask, Margareta Widing, Gabriella Lundkvist, Karin Lagerman, Simret Beraki, Björn-Owe Larsson, Malin, Samira Aryasepehr, Eva, Fredrik, Anke, Stephen, Willias, Paul, Jin, Maria, Kalu, Monica…
And all the people and friends at the department of Neuroscience: you are too many to list.
My friends outside the department and around the world. Andreas, Marie-Louise, Simon Boberg, Emad Barsoum, Sait Karaselimovic we see each other much too seldom! Susanne, Jing, Johanna, Nina, Andreas, Patricia, Pelle and everyone.
Let’s not forget the Aussie-posse; Stephen Zaman (I’m sure that by now you´ve located seventeen thousand spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, I´d rather not know now though), Robyn and Albert, Vincent, Lonni and Peter, Emma and Aaron, Luke and Katie (Guess I’ve lived up to my nickname now haven’t I?), Debbie, and all the people down there who might ever read this =).
Thanks to Kathy Davis; it always did brighten up the science lessons when you had an injured flying fox hanging from your shirt. You are a great high school science teacher and I wish you the best in finishing up your thesis (by the way, you do realize that all your talk of “a dime a dozen” only served to spur me on?).
To my family: The beginning and core of my life. The year 2007 was crappy, with the loss of both Karl-Gustav and Berit Nellåker. I had really hoped that they would be around for this. I was impressed by how well the family has coped with the loss, their memories will remain. I hope this event will herald happier times.
Bengt Jervmo, Cajsa, Lisa, Eric and Emma Nellåker, love you lots (insert superfluous superlatives). I lack the literary skills to do you justice here. Robert Telleman, a family
member gained - the one redeeming feature of 2007. Micke Wozniak, absconded down under, I hope to come for a visit in the not too distant future. Astrid Jervmo, lady of steel, please tear yourself from the endless stream of pensioners-events you fix and visit us more.
Of course thanks to the friends of the family and relatives not mentioned yet: Karlsson, Tidbeck, Enzell, Gestrin, Olsson, Jerneck, Müller-svensson, Nilsson, Haldorsson, and many more.
STING and KI Innovations for the opportunity and the backing to try to patent and commercialize the Tm analysis method.
This thesis would not have been possible without the financial support of the following foundations and institutions:
The Stanley Medical Research Institute. Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
The Swedish Reseach Council (21X-20047) Stiftelsen Lars Hiertas Minne
Stiftelsen Bror Gadelius minnesfond
Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet