PhD Successes December 2011

December was an exceptionally busy month for our students who completed their PhDs and had their viva examination.  Congratulations to all of them and we wish them well in their future careers.

Caitlin Jones supervised by Professor Kevin Fone, Professor Dorothee Auer and Dr Angus Brown.  Caitlin is now working in Belgium for Janssen Pharmaceuticals.

Richard Evans whose thesis was entitled "Axon-glial metabolic interactions in the nervous system".  Richard is staying on to do postdoctoral research in Dr Alistair Hume's laboratory.

Bright Okine supervised by Professor Victoria Chapman and Dr Andrew Bennett and whose thesis was entitled "Investigation of the mechanisms of N-acylethanolamine mediated analgesia in animal models of inflammatory and neuropathic pain".  Bright is now working as a postdoc at the University of Galway, Ireland.

Craig Porter whose thesis was called "The impact of carnitine depletion on the regulation of fuel metabolism in rodent skeletal muscle".  Craig will begin his postdoctoral research at the University of Texas in Galveston.

Jane Krause, another member of our Metabolic Physiology research group.  Jane was supervised by Dr Moira Taylor and Professor Ian Macdonald, and her PhD project was on "The effect of breakfast and diet composition on mood, appetite and cognitive function".  Jane has just started a postdoc at the University of Leicester.

Dr Simon Paine, supervised by Dr Lynn Bedford and Professor Jim Lowe.  Simon's thesis was entitled "Conditional proteasome gene deletion: molecular neuropathology and the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease".  Simon will return to medicine, and we hope that he will be able to do some clinical research at some point in his career.

Jo Strachan supervised by Dr Rob Layfield, Professor Paul Greenhaff and Professor Sheila Gardiner.  Jo is staying on to do postdoc research in Rob's laboratory.  Jo's thesis was "Expression and interactions of the ubiquitin receptor ZNF216".

Ben White, supervised by Dr William Dunn and Dr Paul Smith.  Ben's thesis was entitled "The vascular effects of hydrogen sulphide". 

Michelle Murphy, supervised by Professor Fran Ebling and Professor John Brameld.  Michelle's project was about "The regulation of energy balance in a seasonal rodent (Phodopus sungorus)".