In this 18th edition of the VLAG FLASH would like to draw your special attention to the following courses:

•	Nutrient Density of Milk to be held from 26 - 28 January 2009.
•	Philosophy and Ethics of Food Science and Technology A serie of six Thursday afternoon sessions which will include hands-on dealings with ethical and societal issues surrounding science.
•	Food Hydrocolloids: Fundamentals and Applications to be held from 23 - 25 February 2009.

Please register ASAP.

The deadline for submitting information for the 19th VLAG FLASH is 13 January 2009.

A VLAG letter containing a description of the process and preparation instructions is on its way to the chair holders of the research groups participating in VLAG and to the VLAG Contact Persons.
An important part of the process is the preparation for the citation analysis which will include control of the output data by all research staff involved. VLAG will distribute the instructions in the second part of November.

The next meeting of the VLAG Contact Persons will take place on Monday, 24 November 2008 starting at 15:30 hrs in the lecture room 63 in Biotechnion (WUR building 307). The preparation for the External Peer Review will be the most important discussion point on the agenda.
The presentation of Dr. Frans Kampers about the Centre for Advanced Technology in Agro-Food will start at 16:30 hrs.
If interested in joining the presentation of Dr. Kampers please contact Vesna.Prsic@wur.nl.

Personal Chair: Nutrition and Metabolic Syndrome
13 November 2008, 16:00 hrs
Location: Aula, building 362, Gen. Foulkesweg 1, Wageningen

Chair: Food Chemistry
20 November 2008, 16:00 hrs
Location: Aula, building 362, Gen. Foulkesweg 1, Wageningen

On September 29th Professor Fons Voragen received an honorary doctorate of the University of Plovdiv, Bulgaria due to his pioneering research in the field of polysaccharide chemistry.

•	Epigenesis and epigenetics - Physiological consequences of perinatal programming 24 - 26 November 2008, Wageningen The course is aimed at postgraduates (MSc, PhD) with a background in animal, veterinary, biological, health, or food sciences and open for participants from both industry and universities/research centers. The programme combines knowledge on perinatal programming in humans, laboratory and farm animals, both at the physiological and gene expression level.
•	Hands-on training course in metabolomics 24 - 27 November 2008, Leiden The course will be a combination of lectures and practical sessions focusing on LC-MS data acquisition, data extraction and statistical analysis of large datasets.
•	Systems biology course: Statistics of ~omics data analysis - 4th edition 8 - 11 December 2008, Wageningen This course will focus on the principles underlying processing, analysis and visualisation of large datasets derived from transcriptomics and metabolomics experiments.
•	Philosophy and Ethics of Food Science and Technology January - February 2009, Wageningen This series of six Thursday afternoon sessions will include hands-on dealings with ethical and societal issues surrounding science. Participation in the course is free of charge.
•	Nutrient Density of Milk 26 - 28 January 2009, Wageningen The course aims to provide detailed scientific background on the significance of the nutrient density of dairy products in the diet, how the nutrient density can be changed at the different stages of the dairy chain and how the concept of nutrient density can be communicated to health professionals and consumers. The course consists of a series of lectures, several workshops and discussions.
•	Food Hydrocolloids: Fundamentals and Applications - 2nd edition 23 - 26 February 2009, Wageningen This course consists of a mixture of introductory lectures in soft matter science mixed with lectures on recent topics of interest for polysaccharides as food colloids and biomaterials. The course aims at bridging the gap between the forefront of academic soft-matter research and applications in foods and non-foods.
•	Light in the Intestinal Tract Tunnel 11 - 13 March 2009, Helsinki, Finland Organised by: Graduate School ABS with support from VLAG Contact Person for VLAG PhD students: Ingeborg van Leeuwen-Bol
•	Master class Nutrition Communication: Challenges and Opportunities - 2nd edition 14 - 17 April 2009, Wageningen This Master class will focus on the specific role of nutrition communication in the process towards more healthy consumers. It is at postgraduate level and aims at nutritionists, physicians, nutrition educators, health promoters, health policy makers and scientists, interested in nutrition communication. The course may be of specific use for PhD students working in this field. The link above gives information on the previous edition of this course.
•	Master class Nutrigenomics - 8th edition 6 - 9 July 2009, 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.

• S.P.J. Dullens (Stefan) De novo apoA-I production: regulation and nutritional effects. 12-11-2008, 14:00 hrs, Maastricht Prof. R.P. Mensink, Prof. E.C.M. Mariman, Dr. J. Plat • R.J.F. Manders (Ralph) Protein supplementation as a dietary strategy to improve glycemic control in type 2 diabetes. 14-11-2008, 10:00 hrs, Maastricht Prof. W.H.M. Saris, Prof. A.J.M. Wagenmakers, Dr. L.J.C. van Loon • K. Struijs (Karin) The lignan macromolecule from flaxseed: Structure and bioconversion of lignans. 17-11-2008, 16:00 hrs, Wageningen Prof. H. Gruppen, Dr. J.P. Vincken • M. Djaeni (Mohamad) Energy efficient multistage zeolite drying fo heat sensitive products. 21-11-2008, 13:30 hrs, Wageningen Prof. G. van Straten, Prof. J.P.M. Sanders, Dr. A.J.B. van Boxtel, Dr. P.V. Bartels • A. Pukalskas (Audrius) Isolation, identification and activity of natural oxidants from sweet grass (Hierochloe odorata), costmary (Chrysanthemum balsamita) and horehound (Marrubium vulgare) cultivated in Lithuania. 01-12-2008, 16:00 hrs, Wageningen Prof. Ae. de Groot, Dr. T.A. van Beek, Dr. J.P.H. Linssen • M. Rosso-Vasic (Milena) Synthesis and photophysics of functionalized silicon nanoparticles. 01-12-2008, 13:30 hrs, Wageningen Prof. H. Zuilhof, Prof. L. De Cola • M.G.R. ter Veld (Marcel) In vivo relevance of in vitro detected estrogenic effects of food associated compounds. 05-12-2008, Wageningen Prof. A.J. Murk, Prof. I.M.C.M. Rietjens

• A.M.L. Huijbrechts (Annemarie) Multifunctional starch derivatives: synthesis, characterization and properties. 08-12-2008, 16:00 hrs, Wageningen Prof. E.J.R. Sudhölter, Dr. M.C.R. Franssen, Dr. C.G. Boeriu • A.G. Heidema (Geert) Statistical applications in nutrigenomics. Analyzing multiple genes and proteins in relation to complex diseases in humans. 09-12-2008, 13:30 hrs, Wageningen Prof. E.J.M. Feskens, Prof. E.C.M. Mariman, Dr. J.M.A. Boer • S. van der Veen (Stijn) Listeria monocytogenes growth limits and stress resistance mechanism. 09-12-2008, 16:00 hrs, Wageningen Prof. T. Abee, Prof. W.M. de Vos, Dr. M.H.J. Wells-Bennik • J.F. Zijffers (Jan-Willem) The Green Solar Collector: optimization of microalgal areal productivity. 12-01-2009, 16:00 hrs, Wageningen Prof. R.H. Wijffels, Prof. J. Tramper, Dr. M.G.J. Janssen • K.A. Hettinga (Kasper) Quality control of raw cows' milk by headspace analysis - a new approach to mastitis diagnosis -. 14-01-2009, 16:00 hrs, Wageningen Prof. A.C.M. van Hooijdonk, Dr. T.J.G.M. Lam • P.S. Hofs (Bas) Colloids from oppositely charged polymers; reversibility and surface activity. 20-01-2009, 16:00 hrs, Wageningen Prof. M.A. Cohen Stuart, Dr. A. de Keizer • M. Vermeulen (Martijn) Isothiocyanates from cruciferous vegetables: Kinetics, biomarkers and effects. 13-02-2009, 13:30 hrs, Wageningen Prof. I.M.C.M. Rietjens, Prof. P.J. van Bladeren, Dr. W.H.J. Vaes

•	Career Assessment - December (visit WGS)
•	Techniques for Writing and Presenting a Scientific Paper - 9 December (visit WGS)
•	Experiment! A workshop on experimental methods in social science and interdisciplinary research - 5 January (visit WGS)
•	Project- and Time Management - 13 January (visit WGS)
•	Presentation Skills - 13 January (visit Centa)
•	Philosophy and Ethics of Food Science and Technology - 15 January (visit WGS)
•	The Art of Writing - 4 February (visit CENTA)
•	Competences for Integrated Agricultural Research - 9 February (visit WGS)
•	Effective behaviour in your professional surroundings - 23 February (visit WGS)
•	PhD Competence Assessment - 24 February (visit WGS)
•	Career Perspectives - 19 March (visit WGS)
•	Science, the press and the general public: communication and interaction - 7 May (visit WGS)

•	Professional in Supervision - 15 April (visit WGS)

This jubilee edition of the VLAG PhD week was special in many ways. The most special were, as always, the enthusiastic and motivated participants, this time form 9 countries representing almost all research groups participating in VLAG.
This was the first edition of the course 'troubled' by werewolves, cupids and hunters, and consequently some innocent people had 'suffered'. Accusations, bluffing, second-guessing, ... during the late night the Werewolf-game was great fun.
The course was held at a rustic location south of Eindhoven. The visits to the Philips High Tech Campus and to the White Lady in Eindhoven offered a welcome change of scenery.
And the last but not the least, the course was a result of a good collaboration between NUTRIM and VLAG/Wageningen.

From 11-26 October seventeen PhD students and two professors of the Laboratory of Food Chemistry could be found in the streets of Bejing, Shanghai, Wuxi and Hangzhou! During this study trip they visited universities, companies and research institutes. In doing so, they learned how food technologists operate in the rich Chinese culture.

•	Fulbright grants The Fulbright Center offers Fulbright grants for study and research in the United States to Dutch (PhD) students who wish to study at the graduate level at a reputable U.S. university. Deadline is 1 December 2008. (visit fulbright)
•	Rubicon Rubicon offers researchers who have completed their doctorates in the past year the chance to gain experience at a top research institution outside the Netherlands (maximum of two years). Deadline is 2 December 2008. read more
•	CAS-KNAW joint PhD training programmess for excellent Chinese and Dutch PhD students This programme aims to offer the possibility of PhD training to excellent Chinese and Dutch PhD-students within the context of proven successful joint research projects between Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Institutes and Netherlands universities and research institutes. Deadline is 21 January 2009. (visit KNAW)

•	NUTRIM thematic meeting De X-factor in de professionele performance van promovendi in een snel veranderende omgeving. The language is Dutch. 3 December 2008, Maastricht
•	MINT/NUTRIM symposium: The X-factor of clinical nutrition: Integration of metabolic and medical perspective This symposium highlights the fascinating development of clinical nutrition during the last decennium and presents new areas for research and implementation. The language is Dutch. 4 December 2008, Maastricht (visit MINT)
•	NWO-Talent Class A Talent Class is an extensive workshop, based on the Talent Day. 9 December 2008. (visit NWO)
•	Schrijven over wetenschap The language of this course is Dutch. 20 January - 7 April 2009. (visit de Lynx)
•	Procter & Gamble R&D PhD Seminar This seminar will give you the opportunity to experience the challenging working world of P&Rs R&D organisation and practise the skills needed to be successful. You will do this via a series of exercises and case studies working closely with other European students and trainers from P&G. 30 March - 2 April, Egham, England (visit PG Careers)
•	Design of Animal Experiments This WIAS course helps you to develop your skills in experimental design by active learning. 11 - 13 February 2009, Wageningen (visit WIAS)