It was a busy time for Carol MacKintosh's group when Catherine Johnson became the second of her students to be awarded a PhD within a week. On Tuesday 30th March, Catherine gave a lively account of her project on 'Dual engagement of 14-3-3 proteins with doubly phosphorylated targets' and capably fielded many questions from her audience. Her recent paper on this subject was highlighted a ‘hot paper' in the Biochemical Journal and can be accessed here. Catherine's examiners were Professors Alastair Aitken of the Centre for Integrative Biology, University of Edinburgh and Mike Stark of the Wellcome Centre for Gene Regulation and Expression, University of Dundee. They continued the in-depth questioning all afternoon until Catherine emerged successful, with a big grin. Catherine was fêted with gifts and congratulations from her friends and colleagues, as the party got underway. A freak blizzard hit the Scottish Borders that evening, and we were all relieved to hear that Alastair Aitken made it home there safely, albeit at 2 am!