Sawan K. Jha defended his Ph.D. thesis
The opponent, Prof. Jonathan Sleeman from the University of Heidelberg, appeared to be very versed and comfortable in the Finnish Ph.D. thesis defense culture.
The first Ph.D. mentee from the successfully defended his thesis on the topic . Due to the COVID-19 situation, the event was organized remotely using the Zoom virtual meeting software. The opponent was from the University of Heidelberg. Both the defendant and the opponent did a fantastic job, and the discussion brought to light several new directions for future research. VEGF-C is a tricky protein and it surely still holds some surprises for the diligent researcher. Unfortunately, there was no reception, no dinner, and no (after-dinner PhD graduation party), but we are planning to have a party later this year when the COVID-19 situation permits!