Watch doctoral candidates battle it out in a Three-Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition for the Mark S. Wrighton Award on Aging. The 3MT® is an academic competition that challenges PhD students to describe their research within three minutes to a general audience.
A panel of judges from multiple disciplines and the community will judge the competition. Two awards will be given with monetary prizes of $1,000 and $500 each. Winners will be recognized and asked to present at the annual Friedman Lecture and Awards on April 21, 2023.
The application period for competitors is now closed.
Attendance
This event will take place in person in Connor Auditorium at the Farrell Teaching & Learning Center on the Washington University Medical Campus. Dinner and refreshments will be provided for attendees.
About the competitors
Microglia and Alzheimer’s Disease in Mice Battle It Out
Nimansha Jain is a fifth-year MD-PhD trainee at Washington University School of Medicine. She is currently a graduate student in the laboratory of Dr. David Holtzman studying the role of the innate immune system in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), specifically the role of an AD risk gene — TREM2 — and microglia on AD pathophysiology.
How does the brain help us look and reach?
Jung Uk Kang is a neuroscience PhD candidate in the lab of Dr. Lawrence Snyder at Washington University School of Medicine. His thesis research focuses on how inter-areal communication in posterior parietal cortex supports bimanual and eye-hand coordination. This work will help further the development of neural prostheses and rehabilitation strategies for older adult stroke patients.
Eldercare responsibilities and work outcomes: A longitudinal approach
Julie Lee is a fifth-year doctoral student at Olin Business School. She is interested in the effect of population change on society and organizations. In her dissertation, she focuses on employee caregiving and investigates the effect of caregiving responsibilities on work.
Investigating the structure of Apolipoprotein E4
Michael Strickland is a graduate student in Dr. David Holtzman’s laboratory at Washington University in Saint Louis. His graduate research focuses on utilizing cryogenic electron microscopy and other methods to investigate the structure of lipidated apolipoprotein E to better understand how apolipoprotein E interacts with its receptors and contributes to Alzheimer’s Disease risk.
The Future of Cognitive Assessments
Hannah Wilks is a graduate student in Dr. Hassenstab’s Cognitive Technology Research Laboratory. Hannah is interested neuropsychological assessments, aging and dementia. Her research focuses on using technology-based cognitive assessments to identify and predict future Alzheimer Disease diagnosis.
Discrimination and health disparities: Sense of purpose as a mitigating factor
Megan Wilson is a fifth-year PhD student in the Psychological & Brain Sciences department. Her work focuses in part on understanding the role of discrimination on purpose in life, and understanding who may find purpose through experiences of discrimination, as well as who may find purpose in life through activism.
About the award
This award will be given by the Harvey A. Friedman Center for Aging to recognize doctoral students who show outstanding promise as researchers on topics relevant to older adults and aging society. Students in doctoral level degree programs in any discipline at Washington University with research focused on aging are encouraged to apply. Students must apply in order to be selected to compete.
This award and competition is supported by The Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital from the Harvey A. and Dorismae Hacker Friedman Fund.
The Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) is an academic research communication competition developed by The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia.