The Doctorate is the highest academic degree awarded by the Universidad AustralAnd during July of this year, 2024, two doctoral candidates successfully defended their final theses: the Lic. María José Cantero, PhD candidate at the Institute of Translational Medicine Research (IIMT) CONICET – Universidad Austral y Bautista Elizalde, graduate of the Psychology program, from the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences of the Universidad AustralBoth theses received an Outstanding grade, the highest possible mark.
On Thursday, July 11, the Defense of the Doctoral Thesis of Lic. María José Cantero, which was directed by Dr. Mariana García and co-directed by Drs. Mariana Malvicini and Juan Bayo, and is entitled: “Expression of macrophage and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor in mesenchymal stromal cells using in vitro transcribed mRNA. A therapeutic strategy for cellular hepatocellular carcinomaThe examining committee consisted of Drs. Ma. Paula Ceballos, Juan Sabatte, and Marianela Candolfi. The thesis addressed the development of a treatment strategy for hepatocellular carcinoma using mesenchymal stromal cells expressing granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor. The committee highlighted that the proposed strategy represents a promising tool in the field of cancer treatment. Furthermore, they emphasized the excellence of both the written work and the oral presentation by the doctoral candidate, noting that she answered the committee's questions with authority, demonstrating extensive knowledge of the subject, and that the thesis was recently published in a prestigious, high-impact international journal.
On Tuesday, July 16, the Defense of the Doctoral Thesis of Lic. Bautista Elizalde, Graduate of the Psychology program and doctoral candidate at FCB. The thesis entitled “Brain mapping of language for surgical planning in patients with drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsyThe dissertation was directed by Dr. Lucía Alba-Ferrara, and the examining committee consisted of Drs. Mirta Villareal, Jorge Armory, and José Bueri. The dissertation comprised three studies that combined neuroimaging techniques and neurocognitive batteries in a selection of patients with left and right temporal lobe epilepsy, as well as in healthy controls, to evaluate different aspects of language and its potential reorganization. The examining committee unanimously highlighted the quality and breadth of the topics covered in addressing the dissertation's objective, as evidenced by the publication of the three studies in peer-reviewed international scientific journals. Regarding the results and contributions, the doctoral candidate satisfactorily answered the various questions posed by the examining committee, which covered methodological, conceptual, technical, and clinical application aspects.
