On April 24, 2012 in the Conference Hall of IBIR "Academic Kyril Bratanov " a public hearing was held to conduct a defense of a dissertation on" The Role of melatonin and growth factors in paracrine regulation of steroidogenesis and functional characteristics of human reproductive cells' for the acquisition of the educational and scientific degree "PhD" presented by Assistant Georgi Georgiev, PhD student at the Department of Imunoneuroendocrinology and participant in the FP7 ReProForce project.

The thesis was successfully defended under great public interest. Professor Kacheva, Director of IBIR-BAS, congratulated to the PhD student for the work and designated him as an example of scientific advancement in the education center IBIR. She expressed satisfaction at the existing IBIR potential for training and development and confirmed that the Institute has its doors open for young people. After a discussions and unanimously vote of the scientific jury, the educational and scientific degree "PhD" was awarded to Georgi Georgiev.