04 Nov Celebrating our First PhD Graduate!

We have finally arrived at the chapter where our Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) are wrapping up their PhD projects and defending their thesis. Just last week, on the 28th of October 2022, Asli Aybike Dogan, our ESR from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) successfully defended her PhD thesis “3D printed cell culture devices for engineering extracellular microenvironments”. We are delighted to share this news, as Asli is the first OrganoVIR ESR to graduate from their PhD studies (and we look forward to seeing our other ESRs following in her footsteps very soon!)

Asli Aybike Dogan during her PhD hesis defense at the Technical University of Denmark)

During her PhD studies, Asli developed a 3D co-culture device prototype for endothelial and epithelial barrier tissues with ECM-mimetic hydrogel membranes as an alternative in vitro platform for drug screening and virus studies. Asli’s project is part of our initiative to introduce and establish human organoids as superior models for virus research, thus replacing animal models and reducing unnecessary animal testing. Her project plays an important role in the improvement of human virus research and in studying our biological responses to new drugs. 

We would like to congratulate Asli on her successful defense and for completing her PhD studies. We are beyond grateful to have such an incredible and ambitious talent in our project. We look forward to seeing her contribute in the future of virus research and human organoid models!