PhD defence is a special occasion celebrating not only the graduation of a student but also the society gaining a new highly trained specialist. Last week, Andreia Duarte and Lieke van de Haar of the Pasterkamp lab have defended their PhD thesis with two in-person PhD defences at the Academiegebouw of the Utrecht University.

In her work “The Road Less Travelled: Exploring the profile and functions of non-coding RNAs in brain disease, Andreia has explored how circRNAs and tRNAs may facilitate the brain’s response in medial Temporal lobe epilepsy. She has started her new position as an R&D scientist at the VectorY.

“It was a great closure of 4.5 years of work with lots of research, learning, travelling, fun, ending in such an unforgettable day.” Andreia

Lieke built her PhD on a combination of wet lab experiments and computational tools. Her thesis titled “Isles of Molecules” defines the Habenula development at a single cell level and a new mechanism of axonal guidance. We wish her best luck in her new position as a postdoc at the Rajewsky lab at MDC, Germany.

“ It was a great day to celebrate 4,5 years of work at the University Medical Center Utrecht. I very much enjoyed the scientific discussions and having colleagues, friends and family around.” Lieke

The work was performed at our Translational Neuroscience department of the UMC Brain Center. Photographs by Daniëlle van Rossum and Bart van Dijk