Ian Kelsall, a student in Tricia Cohen's group, successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled "Roles of the glycogen targeting subunits of protein phosphatase 1 in the tissue-specific regulation of glycogen metabolism " on October 23rd 2008. Ian gave a superb seminar on the design and use of a model system to investigate the allosteric regulation of the hepatic glycogen-targeted form of protein phosphatase 1, and explained how a drug that disrupts the interaction of its glycogen-targeting subunit with the active form of glycogen phosphorylase may be beneficial for the treatment of diabetes. Following the lecture, Ian then defended his thesis at a three hour oral examination, this "viva" being conducted by external examiner Professor Jim Woodgett, Director of the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute at the University of Toronto, Canada, and internal examiner Dr Calum Sutherland, Diabetes UK Senior Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Neuroendocrinology, at the University of Dundee's Medical School.