First and foremost, I would like to sincerely express my gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Dr. Dr.
Oliver Schlüter who gave me the opportunity to perform my PhD in his lab. I am especially thankful for your scientific guidance, infectious optimism and remarkable enthusiasm throughout our meetings and discussions.
Furthermore, I am deeply thankful for the collaboration with Prof. Dr. Michael Müller. You provided a second ‘lab family’ to me and always spared some time to answer questions, help with technical problems or give valuable scientific advice.
I gratefully acknowledge Prof. Dr. Siegrid Löwel for her constructive feedback and precious scientific input during my thesis committee meetings. I really appreciate your time for being the second reviewer of my thesis.
I would also like to sincerely thank Prof. Dr. Dr. Hannelore Ehrenreich, Prof. Dr. Oliver Wirths and Prof. Dr. Ralf Heinrich for your agreement on being part of my examination board.
Many thanks go to the GAUSS Biology program of the University of Göttingen and to the GAUSS office, especially to Dr. Jonas Barth who always helped with administrative issues by providing immediate response.
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I am deeply grateful for all the past and present members of the ‘Molecular Neurobiology’ lab.
Many thanks go to our technician Sandra Ott-Gebauer - the ‘good soul’ of our group. You always had an open ear for every kind of issue and I hardly met a person with such a friendly and lovely character. Thank you for your technical advice and for taking care of us.
I owe special thanks to Dr. Lei Cui who always provided help and support. You are such a generous person and I wish you all the best for your new start.
I am as well very grateful for my dear lab colleagues Myrto and Alex. Myrto, thank you for lighting up the whole atmosphere with your overwhelming temperament and for being a good friend. Alex, thank you for teaching me the secret of patching and for our encouraging and fun conversations.
Moreover, I would like to deeply thank all the already and further mentioned lab members for creating such a nice and inspiring working environment: Yanling, Man Ho, Avani, Plinio, Lisa, Eli and Huang.
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Many thanks also go to the lab members of Prof. Michael Müller. I had such a great and enriching time joining your group and I am incredibly grateful for getting this opportunity. I would like to especially thank Dr. Katharina Dietrich for introducing me to the electrophysiological set-up and Belinda Kempkes for your technical help and support.
Together with Karolina, Carina, Nina and Hendrik I couldn’t have imagined a better place for collaboration.
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Furthermore, I am so grateful for all the friends I made in Göttingen, especially to Beate who joined us by a happy coincidence and became a good friend right from the beginning. I am still very sad that our geographical ways were separated but hope we will stay in contact for a much longer time. Adriana, you are such a lovely person and I am so happy that I had the chance to meet you and spend time together. Maddy, our girl’s nights were always so much fun! Please keep your creativity and uniqueness.
Many thanks go to my former fellow students from Hannover - studies would not have been the same without you. I hope we will always be the ‘Freunde der Ferne’. Kristina, amidst this stressful PhD life we spent an amazing holiday together which I will never forget. Anna, I am sure I would have been desperate in some situations if I couldn’t have talked to you. I am so grateful that we stayed in touch and wish that we will ever be part of each other’s life – there is always a road to beautiful North coast ;).
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Of course, I would also like to thank some of my closest friends: Lea, Leni, Kerstin and Rile.
You know that you are such special persons to me and I really appreciate our long friendship. I enjoyed every girl’s weekend with you to the fullest – it is like coming home. I hope we will maintain this connection forever.
Lisa, I met you right after moving to Göttingen and I would never want to miss you again. You cheered up my time in the lab so much – thank you for all your emotional support and for bringing me chocolate when I needed it the most. And thank you, that our friendship became even closer afterwards.
Melli, I am impressed of your positive and lovely personality – you always find a reason to smile and cheer your friends up. Thank you for our sunny lunch breaks together and for every wine-loaded ‘therapy evening’ we had ;).
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Meiki, you know what you mean to me. You are the best and longest friend I ever had. We never lost our connection and I know we never will – no matter the distance which might appear. Thank you for constantly being there for me, listening to everything and having the funniest nights-out together. No words can express how thankful I am for our friendship.
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I also want to give heartfelt thanks to my boyfriend Morris who accompanied me during the past years. Despite the large geographical distance, you were always there for me and encouraged me in the hardest times. You know better than everyone else how to make me smile and laugh. Life is so much more having you by my side. Thank you for finding me.
My biggest thanks go to my beloved family who made my whole studies in science possible and always welcome me with wide open arms – no matter what. Thank you, mum, dad, my brother and grandparents. Thank you so much for all your support and trust, endless love and care. You are the most valuable gift in the world.