Irene defends her PhD thesis

Many congratulations to Irene Calvo Asensio who had her PhD viva on Friday March 31^st. The title of her thesis was “Effects Of Hypoxia On The Response Of The Haematopoietic System To Radiation-induced DNA Damage”. The external examiner was Prof Clare Blackburn from the University of Edinburgh and the internal examiner was Prof Ciaran Morrison from the Center of Chromosome Biology NUIG.

The Introductory chapter of her thesis had been published as a book chapter in “The Biology and Therapeutic Application of Mesenchymal Cells” Ed. Kerry Atkinson. Wiley (2017) p. 391-414 ISBN: 978-1-118-90751-1. Another chapter has been recently published as a paper in Frontiers in Immunology entitled “Differential Response of Mouse Thymic Epithelial Cell Types to Ionizing Radiation-Induced DNA Damage” by Irene Calvo-Asensio, Thomas Barthlott, Lilly von Muenchow, Noel F. Lowndes and Rhodri Ceredig April 2017 doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2017.00418. Other chapters include studies of Mesenchymal stromal cells in which the gene for HIF-1a had been deleted using CRISPR/Cas9 technology and investigations on the radiation responses of DN2 thymocytes and HSC carried out in the laboratory of Prof Ton Rolink in Basel.

Both Irene’s parents were present in Galway to help celebrate Irene’s successful defense of her thesis.