Many congratulations to Aoife Corcoran who on the 21st of March 2017 defended her PhD thesis at the Meeting of the Scientific Board of the Biotechnology Department of the University of Wrocław, Poland. The thesis is entitled “Testing calcemic and non-calcemic activities of new Vitamin D2 analogs via in-vitro and in-vivo studies”. The PhD defence was open to the public and many people from the Department of Biotechnology and from other research institutions attended. Aoife’s thesis was reviewed by Prof. Rafał Siciński, from the Chemistry Department of the University of Warsaw and Prof. Michał Żmijewski from the Faculty of Medicine of the Medical University of Gdansk. Both of the reviewers participated in the defence and Prof. Rafał Siciński was accompanied by his wife Dr. Wanda Sicińska, who is also a specialist in vitamin D chemistry and biology. Prof. Andrzej Kutner, Co-chair of the DECIDE Project came from Warsaw, accompanied by his wife Gosia, to take part in Aoife’s public examination. During the viva, Aoife presented the results of her PhD research, answered questions from both of the reviewers and then questions from the audience. The Scientific Board of the Biotechnology Department then awarded Aoife the degree of PhD in biological sciences in a closed meeting.
