Birgit Blaul (Section MEE), Isabel Carota (Section BIOMED), Sarah Diermeier (Section CBB), Thomas Hierlmeier (Section CBB), Martina KLupp (Section Neurobiology), Katharina Meyer (Section BIOMED) and Iulia Toth (Section Neurobiology) successfully defended their PhD thesis in March/ April 2013. We congratulate them for their excellent performance and wish them all the best for their future career.