It is my pleasure to be able to write a few words in this first edition of the electronic VLAG news letter. Let me start by introducing myself. My name is Tiny van Boekel and I am professor in Product Design & Quality Management at Wageningen University. I am a food technologist and a graduate of Wageningen University; I obtained my PhD in 1980. Unfortunately, we did not have such things as graduate schools in those days, and when I look at the possibilities for PhD students now I can only become jealous. Fortunately, I can now contribute in another way because I have been appointed as the scientific director of VLAG as of January 1, 2006 as a successor to Prof. Frans Kok. read more

•	Energie- en substraatmetabolisme (in Dutch) 29 March 2006, Maatricht
•	Regulation of Food Intake 10-13 April 2006, Wageningen The regulation of food intake is an exciting and challenging area of research which is highly relevant for people interested in biology, nutrition, psychology, and health sciences. Knowledge of these developments is of crucial importance for people from the food industry dealing with nutrition.
•	Bio-nanotechnology 8-11 May 2006, Wageningen The course will be composed of Lectures, Case Studies, and a visit to NanoLab at the Radboud University in Nijmegen. In the lectures general aspects of nanotechnology and non-food applications will be presented, followed by the utilisation, design and assembly of biocomponents. Various techniques used in Nanotechnology will be discussed. Applications concerning sensing, structuring of food and toxicology will be dealt with.
•	Bioreactor Design and Operation 15-18 May 2006, Wageningen Products from biotechnology cover a wide range, from pharmaceutical blockbusters to bulk energy carriers. In the research phase for new products main attention goes to the optimization of the microorganism. Genomics, physiology and metabolic engineering are the main study tools. Scale of operation is not really important in this case.
•	Master class Nutrigenomics 18-19 May 2006, Maastricht Nutrigenomics is in the practical sense is a multidisciplinary science which involves molecular nutrition, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics and genetics. Bioinformatics is the medium to extract knowledge from all experimental observations.
•	2nd European Intensive Programme ‘Food & Health’ 28 May - 11 June 2006, Warsaw (Poland) During this advanced course PhD students will be confronted with a new interdisciplinary approach covering the multidisciplinary relation food-nutrition-health. The link above gives information on the previous edition of this course.
•	Summer Course Glycosciences 6-9 June 2006, Wageningen This course combines general introductions in the field of polysaccharides and glycoproteins with in depth parallel sessions.
•	Innovation in Biopharmaceutical Process Development and Manufacturing 10-14 July 2006, Wageningen The program of the summer Course will be directed at the latest innovations in process development, including principles of quality systems. It will focus on the most critical unit operation in biopharmaceutical development and manufacture, namely the upstream part of the production process.

•	G.B.P.W. Brans (Gerben) Design of membrane systems for fractionation of particle suspensions. 31-03-2006, 16:00 hrs, Wageningen Prof. R.M. Boom, Dr. C.G.P.H. Schroën, Dr. R.G.M. van der Sman
•	H. van der Woude (Hester) Mechanisms of toxic action of the flavonoid quercetin and its phase II metabolites. 07-04-2006, 13:30 hrs, Wageningen Prof. I.M.C.M. Rietjens, Dr. G.M. Alink
•	M.A.M.A. Thijssen (Myriam) Dietary C18 fatty acids: effects on cardiovascular risk markers and fatty acid metabolism. 12-04-2006, 12:00 hrs, Maastricht Prof. R.P. Mensink
•	M. Grillenberger (Monika) Impact of animal source foods on growth, morbidity and iron bioavailability in Kenyan school children. 19-04-2006, 16:00 hrs, Wageningen Prof. J.G.A.J. Hautvast, Prof. F.J. Kok, Prof. C.G. Neumann
•	B. Pieterse (Bart) Transcriptome analysis of the lactic acid and NaCl-stress response of Lactobacillus plantarum. 24-04-2006, 16:00 hrs, Wageningen Prof. W.M. de Vos, Dr. M.J. van der Werf
•	E.J. Quirijns (Ilse) Modelling and dynamic optimization of quality indicator profiles during drying. 24-04-2006, 13:30 hrs, Wageningen Prof. G. van Straten, Dr. W.K.P. van Loon
•	S. Kremer (Stefanie) Food perception and food liking with age. 28-04-2006, 13:30 hrs, Wageningen Prof. J.H.A. Kroeze, Prof. C. de Graaf, Dr. J. Mojet

Your thoughts on the VLAG educational program
On the 10th of May the International Advisory Board of VLAG will have a meeting with the PhD Council, international PhD fellows (e.g. Sandwich PhD) and alumni about the VLAG / WGS (Wageningen Graduate School) curriculum. The variation and quality of the educational program that is offered by VLAG / WGS will be discussed during this meeting. If you want to share your thoughts about the educational program offered by VLAG / WGS, please contact Jeroen Knol (Jeroen.Knol@wur.nl) or the PhD council representative of your research group. The more feedback we get from all the VLAG PhD students, the better input we can offer as PhD council to this meeting.

Changes in the PhD Council
Rinke Stienstra (WU-Human Nutrition) and Eline Klaassens (WU-Microbiology) have left the council. They will be succeeded by Carla Dullemeijer and Bart de Koning, respectively.

Next meeting of the PhD Council
The next meeting of the PhD Council will be held at May 9, 2006 at 16:00 at the canteen of the Biotechnion, Wageningen. If you think that your research group is under-represented and you are interested in joining the PhD council you can contact the VLAG office or Jeroen Knol (Jeroen.Knol@wur.nl)

•	Career Perspectives - 4 April (visit WGS)
•	PhD Competence Assessment - 11 April (visit WGS)
•	Presentation Skills - 24 April (visit Centa)
•	Scientific Writing - 4 May (visit Centa)
•	Project- and Time Management - 9 May (visit WGS)
•	Techniques for Writing and Presenting a Scientific Paper - 27 June (visit WGS)

•	The Carolina MacGillavry PhD Fellowship Programme (visit KNAW)
•	Prion Proteins: One Surprise After Another by Susan L. Lindquist - 10 May read more
•	NWO talent classes - 20 June (visit NWO)
•	Study designs in nutrition research - 7/11 August (visit ABS)
•	Methods in Food and Nutritional Toxicology-4, Dietary, environmental and genetic risk factors for cancer development - A case study of liver cancer - 21/22 & 24/25 August (visit ABS)
•	16th edition VLAG PhD week, 30 October - 2 November (contact Vesna Pršić)