Pharmaceutical sciences doctoral candidate Kishore Chittimalli won NDSU's Three Minute Thesis Competition, and graduate student Yue Shen was a finalist in the event.
Kishore Chittimalli, a doctoral candidate in pharmaceutical sciences, has taken home the $1,000 top prize in NDSU’s annual Three Minute Thesis competition.
Contestants have 180 seconds to present their thesis in terms anyone can understand. An 80,000-word thesis would take nine hours to present in full. The competition challenges students to present their work clearly and concisely.
Chittimalli’s presentation was called “Restructuring the Gut Microbiome for Healthy Aging.”
“As they say, everything starts in the gut. Our lab started working on the gut and asking, what are the mechanisms by which is going to affect the aging process? That’s how the research started,” said Chittimalli, whose faculty advisor is Yagna Jarajapu, associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences. “It means a lot to win this award. I wanted to show my research to the audience and show that good stuff is going on in our department and lab.”
Chittimalli was one of six competitors in the championship round of the competition; all six received $250 for reaching the finals.
Yue Shen, doctoral student in pharmaceutical sciences, was named a finalist for “Chronic Central Administration of Apelin-13 Induces Blood-pressure Elevation and Cardiac Remodeling in Conscious Rats.” Shen’s advisor is Chengwen Sun, associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences.
Competitors were judged in the areas of content, comprehension, communication and engagement.
The NDSU Graduate School hosted its first Three Minute Thesis competition in 2015. Since then, more than 200 NDSU graduate students have showcased their research for staff, faculty, fellow students and community leaders.
From 2015 to 2022, six graduate students from the NDSU College of Health Professions have won NDSU’s Three-Minute Thesis Competition, including:
2022 – Kishore Chittimalli, Pharmaceutical Sciences
Restructuring the Gut Microbiome for Healthy Aging
Advisor Dr. Yagna Jarajapu
2021 – Riddhi Trivedi, Pharmaceutical Sciences
Brain Targeted Nanoparticles for Management of NeuroAIDS
Advisor Dr. Jagdish Singh
2020 – Riddhi Trivedi, Pharmaceutical Sciences
No More Hide and Seek: NanoParticles Seek Out the Hiding HIV in Brain to Combat NeuroAIDS
Advisor Dr. Jagdish Singh and Dr. Amrita Banerjee
2018 – Farnaz Fouladi, Pharmaceutical Sciences
The Role of the Gut Bacteria in Weight Loss Surgery
Advisor Dr. Kristine Steffen
2017 – Tayebeh Anajafi Marzijarani, Pharmaceutical Sciences
Targeted Drug Delivery in Pancreatic Cancer
Advisor Dr. Sanku Mallik
2015 – Allison Peltier, NDSU School of Nursing
Cervical Cancer Among American Indian Women: The Battle Against Health Inequalities
Advisor Dr. Loretta Heuer
The University of Queensland hosted the first competition in 2008 and the idea has spread worldwide.
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