On November 1st Hilary Smith delivered her final Ph.D. lecture entitled 'Regulation of the E3 Ubiquitin Ligase Pellino in innate immune signalling', which was followed by a (3.5 hour!) viva conducted by external examiner Luke O'Neill from Trinity College Dublin and internal examiner Ron Hay (College of Life Sciences University of Dundee) at which Hilary defended her thesis. Hilary is the 42nd student to receive her Ph.D. under the supervision of Philip Cohen.