CCTS hosts third annual T1-T4 in 3 (Minutes) competition
Young researchers compete in presenting their work to public audiences
On April 2, the UTHealth Houston Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences hosted its third annual T1-T4 in 3 (Minutes) Translational Challenge at TMC3. Eleven presenters, chosen from 19 submissions, competed for monetary prizes to support their research. Inspired by the Three Minute Thesis competition at the University of Queensland in Australia, the contest requires participants to present a summary of their research project in three minutes or less to a panel of judges and event attendees. The challenge lies in effectively communicating complex concepts to a nonscientific audience, with focus on a unique aspect of translational science that connects a specific area of research to a community or population. The competition serves to improve each scholar’s ability to connect and communicate with lay people, bringing relevance to their work on a broader scale. By “translating” their research, the young investigators make their work more digestible and compelling to community members and stakeholders.
Each winner is a T32 Program trainee:
1st place, $500: Trey Waldrop, graduate research assistant in radiation physics at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, for “Gone in a FLASH: Treating Pancreatic Cancer with Ultra-high Dose Rate Radiotherapy.”
2nd place, $300: Sarah Ghalayini, graduate student at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, for “Suiting Up T Cells: Strengthening Membrane ‘Armor’ to Improve Anti-Cancer Immunity.”
3rd place, $200: Jacob Mattia, graduate student at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, for “Listening to the Genetic Symphony of Neurodevelopment in Down Syndrome.”
4th place, $100: Antonio Pagán, postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UTHealth Houston, for “Bridging the Gap: Neural Mechanisms and Culturally Adapted Interventions for Latino Young Adults with Autism.”
The winners will advance to compete at the 2025 Summer Meeting of the Texas Regional Clinical and Translational Science Awards Consortium, to be held in June at UTHealth San Antonio.