First SpaceLife Doctoral Student graduated in September 2010

Nicole Vagt defended her thesis on September 13, 2010 at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn.

The title of her thesis is:
Gravity-sensing processes and gravity-dependent gene expression in plants studied under altered gravity conditions.

She gave her half an hour presentation at 14:00 h which was followed by 15 min open discussion - time was flying.
The oral examination with the four referees (PD Dr. Markus Braun, Prof. Dr. Dorothea Bartels, PD Dr. Ruth Hemmersbach und Prof. Dr. Ulrich Kubitscheck) lasted around 45 min. It can be better described as an expert discussion with the referees, and Nicole realized that she has really specialized in her field.

The relief was great after the exam, and Nicole was decorated by her colleagues with a handicraft doctoral cap.

According to the tradition, her colleagues transported Nicole to the promotion office in a decorated hand cart where she posted the sealed examination documents. And the party started in the Institute of Botany!