Starting 1st June Liesbeth Smeets left the VLAG office. She had two part-time jobs (within VLAG she did METIS for 1 day/week and the Plantenziektekundige Dienst where she worked four days a week). She decided to continue with one job and that is her job at the personnel department of the PD. We would like to thank Liesbeth for the excellent job she did the last year. At this moment all VLAG PhD and postdocs projects at Wageningen University are properly recorded in METIS.
Mid May Chantal Doeswijk started her maternity leave. We expect Chantal back towards the end of the year. Some of the activities of Chantal have been taken over by Chantal Kandhai, she will support the VLAG office till September 2006.

The deadline for submitting information for the 4th VLAG FLASH is August 16.

VLAG International Advisory Board (IAB) met for the second time on 9 and 10 May. After introducing the role of VLAG within various national research programmes during the first IAB meeting in 2005 the focus of the second visit was on getting insight into individual research groups affiliated with the graduate school, educational activities and upcoming midterm review of the graduate school. IAB members visited NUTRIM institute in Maastricht, Organic Chemistry, Physical and Colloid Chemistry, Bioprocess Engineering group in Wageningen and NIZO Food Research institute in Ede.
During the meeting with the PhD students in Maastricht and Wageningen the attention was focused on the TSP issues such as quality and compliance monitoring in relation to (inter)national recognition for the VLAG education certificate, shift from supply driven to demand driven curriculum, and the VLAG role in harmonization of course fees for PhD candidates.
VLAG is taking up action on further improvement of the above mentioned issues.

VLAG will use the Wageningen University Midterm Evaluation Protocol to prepare the self-evaluation document. This document will reflect upon the graduate school as a whole as well as focus on the research groups. It has been agreed that all research groups will prepare a 2-page report including the SWOT analysis that is requested and that documentation will be ready by mid October. VLAG has scheduled two IAB meetings in order to streamline the process, on 22nd November 2006 and 24-25 January 2007. The role of the IAB is to assess the quality of the self evaluation document, not to verify presented data.
During the midterm review the VLAG management team will prepare a long list of candidates for the external review committee. The IAB will review this list and advise the scientific director on the names to be suggested to the Executive Board of WU. External evaluation will take place in 2009.

Next meeting of VLAG Contact Persons, previously referred to as Location Managers, will take place on June 27 staring at 3 PM in the lecture room C63 in Biotechnion. During this meeting Ms. Annelies Vandamme from FEVIA Vlaanderen will present a short lecture about project 'Functionality in FOOD'. Moreover Professor Johan Sanders will present his research area within the lecture titled 'Bio-refinery: The bridge between Agriculture and Chemistry'.

Wageningen University has appointed Dr. Renger (R.F.) Witkamp as professor of Nutrition and Pharmacology starting May 15th. He joins the Nutrition, Metabolism and Genomics group of professor Michael Müller. The appointment is for 50 %, and the other part of the week Renger will continue to work at TNO Quality of Life. The interface between "pharma" and "food" is a rapidly evolving field both from a conceptual-, as well as from a practical perspective. Pharmacology and nutrition will gradually be integrated in the educational programmes, starting with a BSc course during the next academic year. Renger Witkamp will start building up a research group working on inflammatory processes in visceral fat tissues in relation to the development of metabolic syndrome. In particular, possibilities for early diagnosis and intervention via G-protein coupled receptors will be investigated. Renger Witkamp (1959) studied biology and pharmacy and obtained his PhD in 1992 from the Veterinary Faculty of the Utrecht University. Until 1996 he was associate professor in Veterinary Pharmacology after which he moved to TNO Nutrition and Food Research. There he held different positions, most recently as director of TNO Pharma. Renger Witkamp is located in room 307 of the Biotechnion and can be reached via Renger.Witkamp@wur.nl or phone number +31 (0)317 485136 (Mon, Tue, Thu).

•	O.D.T. Sessink (Olivier) Bioprocess-Engineering Education with Web Technology. 19-06-2006, 16:00 hrs, Wageningen Prof. J. Tramper, Dr. H.H. Beeftink, Drs. R.J.M. Hartog
•	M.W. Kuiper (Melanie) Occurrence of Legionella pneumophila and Hartmannella vermiformis in fresh water environments and their interactions in biofilms. 20-06-2006, 13:30 hrs, Wageningen Prof. D. van der Kooij, Dr. R.R. Beumer, Dr. H. Smidt
•	C.J.A.L. Mentink (Cyriel) AGEs and diabetic complications. 21-06-2006, 14:00 hrs, Maastricht Prof. W.H.M. Saris, Prof. W.H.R. Wolffenbuttel, Dr. M.A. van Baak, Dr. P.P.C.A. Menheere
•	K.A.N.D. Nijs (Kristel) Optimizing the ambiance during mealtimes in Dutch nursing homes. 21-06-2006, 14:00 hrs, Wageningen Prof. W.A. van Staveren, Prof. F.J. Kok, Prof. C. de Graaf
•	M. Manders (Marleen) Nutritional care in old age: the effect of supplementation on nutritional status and performance. 21-06-2006, 16:00 hrs, Wageningen Prof. W.A. van Staveren, Prof. W.H.L. Hoefnagels, Dr. C.P.G.M. de Groot
•	R. Koopman (René) Nutritional interventions to promote post-exercise muscle protein synthesis. 22-06-2006, 14:00 hrs, Maastricht Prof. W.H.M. Saris, Prof. A.J.M. Wagenmakers, Dr. L.J.C. van Loon
•	J.M. Oomen (Joost) Genetic variation in energy metabolism. 23-06-2006, 14:00 hrs, Maastricht Prof. W.H.M. Saris, Dr. M.A. van Baak
•	T. Bovee (Toine) Development, validation and routine application of the in vitro REA and DR-CALUX reporter gene bioassays for the screening of estrogenic compounds and dioxins in food and feed. 23-06-2006, 16:00 hrs, Wageningen Prof. I.M.C.M. Rietjens, Dr. L.A.P. Hoogenboom, Dr. M.W.F. Nielen
•	G.H. Goossens (Gijs) The renin-angiotensin system in obesity: metabolic and hemodynamic effects. 28-06-2006, 14:00 hrs, Maastricht Prof. W.H.M. Saris, Dr. M.A. van Baak, Dr. E.E. Blaak

NUTRIM PhD-students/postdocs Eefje Corpeleijn, Agnes Boots, Gijs Goossens and Annemiek Joossen have received the Kootstra Fellowships/Talent voor de Toekomst grants to deepen or to extend their research.
The board of University Maastricht has decided to give more attention to the intake and promotion of young talented researchers by making grants available. The grants of the Faculty of Medicine are called 'The Kootstra Fellowships' in honour of Prof.Dr. G. Kootstra. The grants of the Faculty of Health Sciences are called 'Talent voor de Toekomst'.

The last edition of the introductory PhD week took place in March 2006.

From June 6-9 the 9th edition of the biennial European Training Course on Carbohydrates was held. In total 105 participants from 17 European countries participated in this course.

One of the major advantages of this broad course in glycosciences is that general introductions in the field of polysaccharides and glycoproteins are combined with in depth parallel sessions. This gives participants the possibility to focus on specific interests without loosing a broad education.
Participants were encouraged to introduce themselves and their work by presenting a poster during the course. The 5 best poster presentations were awarded and the winners presented their posters in a special poster prize winners session on Thursday evening. The winners are:

1. Nicole Montesanti,
2. Jens Øbro,
3. Lucie Sihelníková,
4. Katalin Daragics
5. Charles Sabin

Social and networking aspects were also given attention. On Tuesday evening dinner was accompanied by live Brazilian music by Zoilita. On Wednesday evening all the participants and lecturers were invited to have a special course dinner in Hotel De Wereld. On Thursday evening everybody enjoyed the buffet en got ready for listing to the poster prize winners.

Photos are available on the course website (visit VLAG)

•	Management of Microbiological Hazards in Foods 18-22 September 2006 The aim of this course is to further improve the knowledge of course participants regarding the management of micro-organisms that may compromise the safety of foods. The course programme combines lectures and group work ("case studies") with plenary discussions.
•	Biocatalysis in the Food and Drinks Industries 24-26 September 2006 This international symposium aims to give an overview of the latest developments of the use of biocatalysts for the production of tastier and healthier food and drinks. Abstracts for posters can be submitted until 15 August 2006.
•	Industrial proteins 6 - 9 November 2006 This course provides insights and routes to systematically design new protein-based products, to solve problems arising in the isolation and processing of industrial proteins and to realise desired functional properties.
•	Advanced Course on Applied Genomics of Industrial Fermentation 13 - 17 November 2006, organised by Kluyver Centre, BSDL and VLAG This course aims to familiarize industrial and academic research professionals with the modern concepts of genomics, their use in microbial research and development, and their utility in contemporary biotechnological industry.
•	Reaction kinetics in food science 11 - 15 December 2006 The aim of the course is to acquire in-depth knowledge about kinetic modelling, and to apply and use kinetics in food science problems using modern software. The link above gives information on the previous edition of this course.
•	Ecophysiology of the gastrointestinal tract 26 February - 2 March 2007 The course consists of a series of lectures, workshops and demonstrations, and includes an opportunity for presentations of the participants' own work. After the course participants have a thorough overview on the current state of knowledge on the ecophysiology of the gastrointestinal tract. The link above gives information on the previous edition of this course.

•	Information Literacy - 13 June (visit WGS)
•	Techniques for Writing and Presenting a Scientific Paper - 27 June (visit WGS)
•	The Art of Writing - 5 September (visit Centa)
•	PhD Competence Assessment - 12 September (visit WGS)
•	Project- and Time Management - 12 September (visit WGS)
•	Scientific Writing - 26 September (visit Centa)
•	Career Orientation - 6 October (visit WGS)
•	Career Perspectives - 31 October (visit WGS)
•	Professional Communication Strategies - 22 November (visit WGS)

•	Bayesian Methods in Theory and Practice by John Geweke, 19 - 27 June 2006 (visit MGS)
•	Wageningen University sandwich PhD fellowships WU has announced a second call for sandwich PhD fellowships, the deadline for submission of proposals is 31 August 2006. In the announcement is emphasized that adequate support of the organisation in the South that employs the candidate is of paramount importance. (visit WU)