Earlier this month, UTMB graduate students took 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place at a regional competition in science communication. Each winner received a cash prize. 

Dr. Michael Kurilla of the National Center for Advancing Translational Science presents T1–T4 in 3 Minutes awards to UTMB’s Danielle Jamison (First Place, left), Melissa Henwood (Second Place, middle), and Zachary Watson (Third Place, right). Photos: Dwight C. Andrews, UTHealth Houston.

Their scientific sweep was the result of a T1–T4 in 3 Minutes competition, in which student scientists describe their research projects in a lay friendly manner in 3 minutes or less. T1–T4 refers to stages of translational research, which covers the long process of moving a scientific innovation from early discovery (T1) to clinical trials (T2), to implementation in the clinic (T3), and finally to broad benefits in communities (T4). The competition was a featured event at the 2023  Texas Regional CTSA Consortium (TRCC) meeting. The TRCC brings together the CTSA-supported translational science institutes of four Texas universities: the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), UT Health San Antonio, UT Southwestern, and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, which hosted the 2023 event. 

Competitors were tasked with presenting their research in a lay friendly manner in less than three minutes, with the support of only a single, static presentation slide. In 2016, UTMB's Institute for Translational Sciences launched the science communication competition, following the model of an international competition known as the Three-Minute Thesis. The ITS-developed T1-T4 in 3 Minutes competitions are now held at two other TRCC members, and soon will disseminate to the fourth.  At the 2023 TRCC meeting, each competitor was a finalist from their home institution's local T1–T4 competition (read about UTMB's spring 2023 T1-T4 competition here). 

The first place winner of the TRCC event was Danielle Jamison, who is a PhD student working in the Pharmacology and Toxicology department at UTMB. Her presentation was titled "Understanding differences in vulnerability to, and protection against, Alzheimer's disease."

The second place winner Melissa Henwood is a MD-PhD student working in the Neurobiology department. Her presentation was titled "From bench to bedside - characterizing a new animal model of neuropathic pain following spinal cord injury."

Third place winner Zachary Watson is a PhD student working in the Neurobiology department. His presentation was titled "The over-excited gardener: the cause of HIV-associated pain?"

The People's Choice award went to Pahul Hanjra of the University of Texas Health Houston, for her presentation called "Identifying a drug to starve cancer cells to death." While the First, Second, and Third place prize winners are chosen by a panel of judges, the People's Choice award winner is selected by the full audience.