Three minutes, one slide, two BMS winners.
Third-place winner, Sophia Owutey, spent the weeks ahead of the university-wide competition practicing her elevator pitch.“ I had been so nervous leading up to the competition,” she said.“ I practiced in the bathroom because I could hear my voice in there.”
A second-year doctoral student in the Wang Lab, Owutey studies how protein signals are involved in DNA repair in yeast cells, which repair DNA similarly to human cells.
First place 3-MT™ winner, Hyeje Sumajit
“ In your cells, sunlight damages your DNA and that damage could lead to cancer... thankfully, our cells have an emergency response crew. This repair crew cannot come without the right signals,” she explained. Her work focuses on a specific signal that recruits the“ emergency response crew” to the damaged DNA site for repair.
After standing out among 12 other FSU graduate students at 3MT™, Owutey has returned to the bench to continue her research as she reaches doctoral candidacy.
Sumajit, a third-year doctoral candidate in the Irianto Lab and first-place winner of the FSU 3MT™ competition, humbly shared her pathway to a successful presentation.
“ Qualifying exams helped me develop useful skills. You need to really know what your committee is asking you, and that’ s the hardest part,” Sumajit said.“ Having the background knowledge from qualifying exams really helps me explain my research better, and it helped a lot with Three Minute Thesis.”
Third place 3-MT™ finisher, Sophia Owutey
36 FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY | COLLEGE OF MEDICINE