Well done to Viviana Castagna who passed her PhD last week.

Viviana successfully defended her thesis which was entitled "Investigation of Protein Mediated Control of Osteoinductivity in Porous Bone Graft Substitutes using Fluorescent Probes."

Viviana's PhD looked into the mechanisms of biomaterials in improving the bone regeneration process. She specifically looked at how some material properties, like chemistry and microporosity, influence the biological response of these biomaterials in in vitro conditions, and at how particular bone proteins influence this effect. She described her multidisciplinarity work as "where biology, chemistry and material properties meet which helped to make the whole work really interesting and stimulating!"

Viviana said "Working to obtain a PhD was at the same time very exciting and challenging (sometimes too much so!) but I believe it is a great way to prepare for a successful career in any field."

Best wishes go out to Viviana from her supervisor, Dr Karin Hing.