Since October 1st, Eva Oudshoorn, the former head of secretariat of the Division of Human Nutrition, joined the staff of the VLAG Graduate School. She holds the position as VLAG-METIS coordinator and financial coordinator. METIS is the program used by all universities in The Netherlands to collect the input made into research projects. All VLAG PhD and Postdoc projects are in this database. As METIS coordinator she is responsible for keeping METIS up to date with the research project and persons within VLAG.

Chantal Kandhai who replaced Chantal Doeswijk for some of her activities during her maternity leave, left the VLAG office at the end of September for her own maternity leave. We expect Chantal Doeswijk back at the office at the end of January 2007.

The deadline for submitting information for the 6th VLAG FLASH is 9 January 2007.

Next meeting of VLAG Contact Persons will take place on November 6th starting at 3 PM in the lecture room 319 in Biotechnion. We have invited Dr. Kees Recourt, Investment Manager of the MIBITON foundation, as a guest speaker. His presentation about the latest developments at Mibiton is scheduled at 4.15 PM.
If interested in joining please contact Vesna.Prsic@wur.nl.

Fifteen pre-proposals were submitted within the 6th open round call which closed on 2nd October 2006. The management team will rank the pre-proposals during the next meeting and the results will be communicated to the authors on November 20th.
For additional information please contact Vesna.Prsic@wur.nl.

The VLAG Mid-term review is in the phase of documentation editing. VLAG has scheduled two International Advisory Board meetings in order to streamline the process. The role of the IAB is to assess the quality of the self evaluation documentation. The IAB will meet on 22 November 2006 for a preliminary assessment and on 24-25 January 2007 for the final evaluation.

• E.C.H. van den Ham (Eugénie) Body composition and exercise intolerance in renal transplant patients: the response to exercise training. 26-10-2006, 14:00 hrs, Maastricht Prof. J.P. van Hooff, Prof. K.M.L. Leunissen, Prof. A.M.W.J. Schols, Dr. J.P. Kooman • N.C. Khan (Nguyen) The role of plant food sources in controlling vitamin A deficiency in Vietnam. 31-10-2006, 16:00 hrs, Wageningen Prof. J.G.A.J. Hautvast, Prof. F.J. Kok, Dr. P. Deurenberg, Prof. Ha Huy Khoi • E. Corpeleijn (Eefje) Fatty acid metabolism, impaired glucose tolerance and the effects of lifestyle. 10-11-2006, 14:00 hrs, Maastricht Prof. W.H.M. Saris, Prof. T.W.A. de Bruin, Dr. E.E. Blaak • N.P. Creusot (Nathalie) Enzyme-induced aggregation of whey proteins with Bacillus licheniformis protease. 13-11-2006, 13:30 hrs, Wageningen Prof. H. Gruppen • J.H.F. Bult (Harold) Sensory and instrumental analysis of food aromas. 15-11-2006, 16:00 hrs, Wageningen Prof. J.H.A. Kroeze, Prof. A.G.J. Voragen, Dr. H.N.J. Schifferstein, Dr. J.P. Roozen • G. Miliauskas (Gidrius) Screening, isolation and evaluation of antioxidative compounds from Geranium macrorrhizum, Potentilla fruticosa and Rhaponticum carthamoides. 20-11-2006, 16:00 hrs, Wageningen Prof. E.J.R. Sudhölter, Dr. T.A. van Beek, Dr. J.P.H. Linssen • J. Huang (Junrong) Function-structure relationships of acetylated pea starches. 08-12-2006, 16:00 hrs, Wageningen Prof. A.G.J. Voragen, Dr. H.A. Schols

• Huong Le Thi (Huong) Anemia among school children in Vietnam: The efficacy of iron fortification. 12-12-2006, 13:30 hrs, Wageningen Prof. F.J. Kok, Prof. Nguyen Cong Khan, Dr. I.D. Brouwer • J.S. Zandleven (Joris) Identification and characterization of some Aspergillus pectinolytic glycoside hydrolases. 12-12-2006, 16:00 hrs, Wageningen Prof. A.G.J. Voragen, Dr. G. Beldman • M.J. Zweistra-Hoogschagen (Marisca) Macroscopic modelling of solid-state fermentation. 03-01-2007, 16:00 hrs, Wageningen Prof. J. Tramper, Dr. A. Rinzema • S.G. Bolder (Suzanne) Fibril assembly in whey protein mixtures. 09-01-2007, 16:00 hrs, Wageningen Prof. E. van der Linden, Dr. L.M.C. Sagis, Dr. C.G.J. Bisperink • Guansheng Ma (Guansheng) Iron and zinc deficiencies in China: Existing problems and possible solutions. 15-01-2007, 16:00 hrs, Wageningen Prof. F.J. Kok, Prof. E. Jacobsen • A.P.H.M. Hermans (Armand) Stress response and virulence in Salmonella Typhimurium: a genomics approach. 16-01-2007, 13:30 hrs, Wageningen Prof. M.H. Zwietering, Prof. T. Abee, Dr. H.J.M. Aarts • P.A. Wark (Petra) Diet, lifestyle, heritable factors and colorectal carcinogenesis: Associations with histopathological and molecular endpoints. 16-01-2007, 16:00 hrs, Wageningen Prof. F.J. Kok, Prof. P. van 't Veer, Dr. M.P. Weijenberg • J.W.J. Beulens (Joline) Moderate alcohol consumption and risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes; population-based studies and physiological interventions. 17-01-2007, 13:30 hrs, Wageningen Prof. F.J. Kok, Prof. G.J. Schaafsma, Dr. H.F.J. Hendriks

From 27-28 September the VLAG-NZO master class ‘Dietary Influences on Blood Pressure’ was held.
This year’s VLAG-NZO visiting professor was Professor John van Camp of the Department of Food Safety and Food Quality, Ghent University, Belgium. The Master class focused on dietary influences on blood pressure. Three VLAG-PhD students, namely Marijke Sanders (UM), Brian Buijsse (WU) and Martinet Streppel (WU), have given their presentations on the second day of the master class.
view photo

From 14 - 29 October a group of 22 PhD students from the Laboratory of Microbiology will travel from San Diego to San Francisco

From 23 October - 3 November a group of 16 PhD students from the Laboratory of Food Chemistry will visit France and the United Kingdom.
http://www.fch.wur.nl/UK/

•	Industrial proteins - 3rd edition 6 - 9 November 2006, Wageningen 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, Wageningen, 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.
•	Quality: from Soil to Healthy People 16 November 2006, Wageningen, organised by Graduate Schools PE&RC, EPS and VLAG The programme addresses the issue of Quality from Soil to Healthy People, but in reversed order, so as to emphasize the importance of the demand side in the supply chain. It offers PhD students, postdocs and staff the opportunity to highlight recent research findings in the area by oral presentations (on invitation only) and posters.
•	Reaction kinetics in food science - 5th edition 11 - 15 December 2006, Wageningen 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.
•	Systems biology course: Statistics of ~omics data analysis 11 - 14 December 2006, Wageningen This course will focus on the principles underlying processing, analysis and visualisation of large datasets derived from transcriptomics and metabolomics experiments.
•	Ecophysiology of the gastrointestinal tract - 6th edition 26 February - 2 March 2007, Wageningen 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.
•	Philosophy and Ethics of Food Science and Technology - 2nd edition 8, 15, 22, 29 March and 5, 12 April 2007, Wageningen The course is set up as a series of six Thursday afternoon sessions which will include dealings with philosophical, ethical, and social issues surrounding science.
•	VLAG PhD-week - 17th edition 23 - 26 April 2007, Wageningen This activity is a compulsory part of the VLAG education programme and it is meant for the PhD students that have recently started their PhD study. Registration is based on 'first-come, first-served' principle. Deadline for the registration is 23 February 2007.
•	Nutritional and lifestyle epidemiology - 8th edition 4 - 9 June 2007, Wageningen The aim of this advanced training course is to acquire knowledge and expertise in the design, conduct and analysis of epidemiologic research on lifestyle and nutritional factors in chronic disease etiology. The link above gives information on the previous edition of this course.
•	Bio-polymers (1st edition) 2 - 5 July 2007, Wageningen
•	Summer Course Metabolomics July 2007, Wageningen The aim of the course is to give insight in the relevant techniques of metabolomics, in sight in the development in specific fields of applications of metabolomics.
•	Nutrition & sports - 2nd edition September/October 2007 This course is designed for trainers, coaches, sports dieticians, PhD students in (human or animal) nutrition as well as product development managers (with a minimum of a BSc education level) with an interest in improving their knowledge in the domain of nutrition and sports. The link above gives information on the previous edition of this course.
•	Food fermentation - 3rd edition 15 - 19 October 2007, Wageningen After an introduction into the biodiversity of fermentation micro-organisms and the product technologies involved, this course deals with the specific aspects of functionality related to health, flavour and ingredients, models and control of fermentation and quality, and ~omics in particular the relevance of proteomics, genomics and metabolomics in fermentation innovation and control. The link above gives information on the previous edition of this course.
•	Master class Nutrigenomics - 7th edition 19 - 22 November 2007, Wageningen During the Master class we will discuss new developments in nutrigenomics research including specific aspects of human and mouse studies, molecular epidemiology, applications of microarray analysis, metabolite profiling or biomarker identification strategies. The link above gives information on the previous edition of this course.
•	Food perception and food preference - 4th edition November 2007, Wageningen The course will focus on how food preferences develop and how they are maintained or changed in later life. Special attention will be devoted to perceptual and sensory determinants of preference behaviour and food intake. The link above gives information on the previous edition of this course.
•	Genetics and physiology of food-associated microorganisms - 3rd edition December 2007, Wageningen This advanced course aims to develop expertise in the genetics and physiology of food-associated micro-organisms, in particular with respect to their reactions to variety of stresses that can be imposed deliberately on micro-organisms during food processing, by food preservation techniques and during distribution and storage. The link above gives information on the previous edition of this course.

•	Scientific Writing - 26 October (visit Centa)
•	Project- and Time Management - 31 October (visit WGS)
•	Career Perspectives - 31 October (visit WGS)
•	Ethics and the public role of social scientists - 1 November (visit WGS)
•	PhD Competence Assessment - 7 November (visit WGS)
•	Career Assessment - 8 November (visit WGS)
•	Presentation Skills - 20 November (visit Centa)
•	Techniques for Writing and Presenting a Scientific Paper - 14 November (visit WGS)
•	Writing Grant Proposals - 14 November (visit Centa)
•	Professional Communication Strategies - 22 November (visit WGS)
•	Scientific Publishing - 23 November (visit WGS)
•	Professional in Supervision (visit WGS)
•	The Art of Writing - 20 March 2007 (visit Centa)

This course is intended for PhDs in their last years and post-doc researchers, who want to learn how to write a project proposal for funding. The course will focus on clear and concise writing that meets the requirements of funding agencies. (visit Centa)

WGS offers PhD candidates (from the second year on) the possibility to do a PhD career assessment. The career assessment consists of a number of questionnaires that are measuring skills, competences, strength and weaknesses of the PhD students. Based on the results, professionals other than their supervisors will give personal advices on how to improve certain skills and competences. Next to it, the assessment helps PhD candidates to get more insight in which competences are required to succeed in their current and future jobs and how to more effectively obtain their goals. (visit WGS)