Page 143 - Magnesium-based supports for stem cell therapy of vascular disease - Mónica Echeverry Rendón

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Kirsten, thank you because you were one of the few people who suffered the difficulties of working with magnesium with me. I will always appreciate the courage you had to join the project and try to move it forward. Your personal- ity was very complementary to mine, the humor and tears that we shared, and never to forget the dissection of rat aortas. Brina, thank you because you opened your arms and you let yourself be loved and helped. You continued with Kirsten's work and you surely thought "it can not be that difficult" and you suffered it but we made a lot of progress. In Groningen, from the very early mornings until nightfall, we worked tirelessly in the laboratory. Those were some very intense weeks but we made it through, and managed to have some good fun and laughs in-between experi- ments. Not to mention what we enjoyed together in Colombia, my friends were yours you knew my surroundings, my way of life, my country and my roots. Thank you for allowing me to share your experience in Colombia with you. It is clear that yesterday we were joined by a Project but now it is other thing that makes us continue as friends. Thanks to the people who helped me with technical problems in the laboratory, and other administrative issues. To Linda Brouwer and to Marja Brinker "the heads of CAVAREM", to Henk Moorlag for the stories about his cat, the his- tory of art, and with whom I lived the best "Dutch experience" ice skating. To Hans van der Plas who with his kindness helped me with administrative difficulties, to Carolien Mulder, Susan Pals and Petra Huisman.
Thanks to ‘El escuadron latino” of the department, Tamara Saez, Susana Figueroa, Rebeca Hid and Nataly Puerta, all of you were my closest connection with home. Every time we took a break, we were able to immerse ourselves in our culture. Thank you because with you, the coffee had better flavor (in figurative) and because always the laughter and the disorder was generated around the "Latin power".
Thanks to Prof Han Moshage and Joyce Fongers because they were the key that opened the door of Groningen to be able to do my doctorate in double degree and they guided me to make the best decision to work with the best supervisor ever.
Thanks to Prof. Hendrik Buikema and Dalibor Nakladal for your help and good disposition during the ex vivo studies of magnesium on endothelial tissue.
Than you Daniela Jou-Valencia because since I met you, automatically you became my friend and my sister, because you were always there and we enjoyed unforgettable moments together and because you got into my collection of favorite people. Tea time, gym training, lazy hours, eating ice cream or gossiping like good Latinas, all of this will be always in my best memories. Thank you because you were always a person who was there unconditionally. It was so clear to me that you would be on my right as my paraninfa during my PhD defense because you are simply the most important person for me in the whole Holland! Thanks for accepting it. And additionally I want to thank to Ari-Jan Azad, for your good sense of humor for your company and support and for the good culinary moments and all the bullying that you did to me, definitely you two Dani and Ari are a beautiful couple.
Thanks to my adoptive family in Holland, Jonnathan Jiménez, Juanes Durango, Marleny Fajardo, Fredy Soer and Amirah, we spent incredible moments together traveling, playing and eating. Thank you for all the support when I felt loneliest or sick. I will always be grateful for all that you were and did for me.
Other people who from the distance also played an important role with words of support and unconditional com- pany have been Jennifer Barrirero, my sister and friend, Jean Paul Allain who at a professional level and as a friend has always been aware of my wellbeing and progress, Jennifer Hermann, a beautiful being with whom I have shared funny and happy moments, John Jaiber González, an analytical and critical man with whom I have disputed inter- esting conversations about the complexity of the human being. To my friends Doreisy Vallejo, Juan Pablo Gómez, Mauricio Wilchez who have been there through time and distance. Thanks to my two musketeers Eugenia Cardona and Diana Lorena Muñoz, friends of the soul with whom I have built a relationship so beautiful that it lasts despite time and distance. To Patricia Montoya, my accomplice, my great friend, who with her words and directions helped me to be a better person since I met her, thank you for supporting me and helping me with every decision I made. To Gabriel Jaime Gallego, to Carlos Eduardo Girlado, to Steffi Samaniego, Angélica Sabogal, Daniel Moreno and Jaime Mondragón because in one way or another they were there during this stage of my life.
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