Yvonne Fleming, a PhD student in the MRC Unit successfully defended her thesis entitled "The mechanism of activation of SAPK1/JNK" on May 21st. After a 40 minute public lecture followed by questions, the formal viva was conducted by Simon Cook (external examiner from the Babraham Institute, Cambridge) and Harindar Hundal (internal examiner, Division of Molecular Physiology, School of Life Sciences, Dundee, followed by a reception and presentation. Judith Hare, one of the Unit's secretaries, won the sweep for guessing the length of the viva correctly (two hours two minutes). Yvonne now joins a distinguished list of "thirty something" students, being the 32nd student to receive a PhD under Philip Cohen's supervision. Dr Fleming has taken up a postdoctoral position with Margaret Frame at The Beatson Cancer Institute in Glasgow, Scotland.