Dieser Text ist Teil meiner Dissertation. Die volle Abschlussarbeit ist online auf Englisch als PDF oder kapitelweise auf dieser Webseite verfügbar.
Besides all of the knowledge I gained about computational modelling of the heart, I can say that in my “global PhD”, I certainly learned a thing or two about the logistics of interdisciplinary and international collaboration: countless moves between the Netherlands and Belgium, negotiating the bureaucracy of two universities, and the challenges of building bridges between mathematics and physics on the one hand, and biology and medicine on the other. Over these four years, I have become a cosmopolitan European—and I am grateful to all the people I have met along the way who helped shape the person that I am now. From my birth place of Bochum to Kortrijk, Gent, Leuven, and of course my new home of Leiden, I have been welcomed with open arms. Truly, thank you all.
The term “Doktorvater” (doctoral father) is a fitting description for the role of a PhD supervisor, though I have been lucky enough to have a whole doctoral family to support me. I would like to thank my supervisors Hans Dierckx, Daniël Pijnappels, and Antoine de Vries for pushing me to become a better scientist day by day. They gave me the freedom to explore the ideas that interested me at any moment, while also providing the guidance to keep me on track. Hans, thank you for the brainstorming sessions drawing diagrams on the blackboard distributing colourful chalk dust all over the room. Daniël, thank you for building this truly interdisciplinary lab, a place where groundbreaking research is done every day. Twan, thank you for perfecting the art of scientific writing and for always being available for an interesting chat.
To my extended team of supervisors of Alexander Panfilov, Katja Zeppenfeld, and Tom Van Doorsselaere, as well as my supervisory committee, thank you for your support. Sasha, it still makes me smile when we talked about being star-struck when meeting your scientific idols.
HeartKOR! What a rollercoaster ride it has been. From the first video calls after my job interview during the pandemic with Louise Arno and Lore Leenknegt where we talked as if I was already part of the team, to the group growing with Marie Cloet and Nathan Dermul, the summer school in Bordeaux, and the many productive meetings in Kortrijk and online. I am grateful for both: friendship and science. Louise, thank you for being my carpool buddy; Lore, thanks for letting me store all my moving boxes in your garage while I went on a trip to teach sailing; Marie, thank you for listening to me, tea in hand, whenever I needed to vent; Nathan, big thanks for giving me the grand tour of Roeselare. And Aaron Gobeyn, thank you for showing me how smoothly a master’s project can be done.
And of course, gratitude to the Laboratory of Experimental Cardiology with all its members, too many to list. It is an honour and a privilege to be part of this group. Just to name a few: thanks to Tim De Coster for deep mathematical and not-so-mathematical discussions, to Niels Harlaar for introducing me to the optical voltage mapping data, and the technicians Cindy Bart, Juan Zhang, and Sven Dekker for preparing cells for my experiments, etc. Minka Bax, thank you for welcoming me in Leiden while I had to quarantine immediately after moving. Balázs Ördög, thank you for kayaking, sailing, and driving me and my boxes on my first move to Belgium. I am always happy to help in our office gardening sessions, Vincent Portero. Nogmaals hartelijk dank aan iedereen in het lab!
Also thank you, my co-authors Christian Zemlin and Olivier Bernus, for the collaboration on the Ithildin paper. I look forward to many more opportunities to work together. Also I would like to thank Jürgen Dreher, who originally introduced me to the field of cardiac modelling for my bachelor’s and master’s theses.
Talking about sailing, which has played a big part in my free time to balance out the academic work, I would like to thank everyone in the SIRUB sailing club, especially Michael Hornig, for countless adventures on different waters. Sei es das Mittelmeer, die Ostsee, das IJsselmeer, oder die Seen in Friesland, wir segeln weiter! Mögen alle Winschen richtig belegt werden. Also a big thank you to Merian for the weekends of sailing shenanigans in Scheveningen. Digging out a boat from the sand after a storm is not something you forget easily.
Then, my dear friends all around the world, some of whom I have known for decades and others I have only met in these last four years probably while travelling. Thank you for being there for me, when we are once again following all ScotRail lines on the map to just find some remote station on GeoGuessr (Schweinstein’s gang: Lisa, Julia, Basti, Pascal), when we are hiking over to Hattingen on the weekend (Miguel, Niels, Niklas, Robin2 ), or when we finally update each other about our lives (Kira, Racha, Adriana, Lena). Thank you for all the memories we have made together and the ones we will still make (Dina, Dennis, Zoë, Emil, Veronica).
Meine Großeltern, Doris und Ralf, ich freue mich immer auf die Zeit, die wir zusammen verbringen, und hoffentlich werden es noch viele Jahre sein. Danke an meine Eltern, Iris und Diethelm, die in mir die wissenschaftliche Neugier geweckt haben und mich immer unterstützen, egal wo ich gerade bin. Wer hätte gedacht, dass wir beide letztendlich in der Medizin landen würden, als ich Physik studiert habe und du Biologie, danke Muriel! Ich bin immer für dich da, liebe Schwester, auch wenn München und Leiden so weit auseinander liegen.
And if I forgot to mention you and yet you are reading this, know that I am grateful for you too.
Some people think of life as a book with chapters to be closed and opened. Instead, I believe life is more like a river, with tributaries and confluences and meanders. I am not a believer in strict beginnings and endings, not a believer in strict categories to fit in. So let’s see what things will remain and what things will change.
I am looking forward to the journey ahead.
Desmond Kabus
Leiden, 2024-12-05