Testimonials

 

The two things that become immediately apparent when following one of Prof. Remie's courses on experimental microsurgery is his quiet passion for the best possible quality of work and his constant insistence on ”goal orientation”. Later, the participant realises that this gentle perfectionism roots in a wide ranging knowledge of anatomy, practical experiences with various animal models, comparative physiology and anaesthesiology. His teaching can be described as ”interactive ex cathedra” with an engaging presentational style and seamless transitions between slide-based information and practical, CCTV-based demo's. Despite the more traditional format, it is complemented with a genuine empathy not only for his students, but also for the experimental animals, the former combined with shrewd psychological insights. 

We were all encouraged to submit, in advance, our different areas of interest and the themes we wanted to figure prominently in the course. This made for widely different subjects of teaching. Prof. Remie's teaching is nevertheless so accomplished that he manages to interact individually with each student in different ways to expose him/her to the toughest possible challenge whilst, at the same time, pushing for the best possible response. This in itself is an accomplisment of the first order, made even more remarkable by the fact that the class I attended had extremely different starting competences. The gems of theoretical and practical knowledge that he freely shares with you never feel pedantic but the relevant facts are mentioned at the appropriate moments in a way that you'd wished you should have known this all along. ”Forschung und Lehre”, said that giant of pre-Darwinian science, Alexander, Freiherr von Humboldt. The ”Lehre” is without question already in an elite league of its own; the ”Forschung”, one discovers later, are his own extremely interesting and important contributions to lab animal science in particular and operative methods in general. In short, a most advantageous combination of competences, a Humboldtian teacher-scientist.

I attended a tailor made 5 day course "Transient middle cerebral artery occlusion in mice" in March 2010. This was by far the best course I've ever had. I came with limited micro-surgical skills, but in just a few days I succeeded in performing a very complicated operation. This had never been possible without Rene's vast experience and calm teaching style. His surgical capability exceeds anything I have ever seen and he manages to share his knowledge in a highly enthusiastic yet comfortable way. We worked hard, focused and concentrated in a working environment filled with laughter, praise, jokes and inspirational conversation. Rene is not only a super-surgeon, but also a wonderful human being with a lot of life experience to learn from. I came with a lot of problems surgical as well as practical and Rene came with many possible solutions both in regards to anesthesia, analgesia, setup problems, experimental design, etc. For me personally this course has saved months of hard work and given me a much better experimental setup as well as made me a better surgeon. Thank you Rene !!!

 

 

“I recently attended a Microsurgical Course run by Professor René Remie at the Surgical Skills Centre in Almere Stad, Netherlands where I received first class training in microsurgical techniques performed on the Rat using a Leica Microscope. The operating station was set up to a high quality and there were many books and papers available for reference.  I was initially trained on a ‘Latex rubber’ Rat complemented with lectures received in the morning each day on all other subjects relevant to surgery such as Equipment, Anaesthesia, Asepsis and Anatomy that was demonstrated on a larger than life anatomical rat model. This gave me the background training required so that I could then proceed to undertake the techniques that I had learnt ‘In-Vivo’. Professor René Remie was extremely helpful and friendly and would demonstrate any technique specifically requested.  I would recommend that anyone working in the scientific field who is interested in performing surgery or is currently performing surgery  on Laboratory Animals should definately attend this course. They will obtain many new ideas with a wealth of information as I did. Rene’s skilled teaching  on the art of performing microsurgery combined with his huge concern for animal welfare enabled me to  receive the best training and to become proficient on my required specialist techniques by the end of the course.”

 

 

 

“René Remie is watching you!” That Is the feeling I still have during my operations…although my 3-day-radio-telemetry course was already 2 month ago! When I started the course I thought that I would never ever learn how to implant a catheter in the carotid artery of a mouse without killing the animal. And now?! It takes me less than 10 minutes until the catheter is fixed in the artery without any loss of blood and the animals are running around in their cage a few hours later. I had to learn not to lose my ease of mind during the surgical training and I always had and still have the voice of René Remie in my mind that takes me back to the important things that I have to pay attention to. I think that he has the feeling to treat every kind of person in the right way to bring him/her to their own personal goal. I also learned a lot about microsurgical suture materials and techniques, ECG- and Blood pressure-measurement, radio telemetry, anesthesia, asepsis and anatomy.
In the end I can say it was the best way to learn about these microsurgical techniques and I can just recommend everyone who wants to work in a proper and perfect way to take part in one of his courses!

 

 

 

‘From my experience on the 3-day radiotelemetry course, I would absolutely recommend this, or indeed any of the courses to anyone, to those with plenty of in vivo experience as much as those with only a little. The breadth and depth of René’s skill and know-how and his ability to get key messages across are second to none, all within a friendly atmosphere conducive to asking questions, promoting discussions and getting the right help at the right time. A thoroughly excellent course’.