The panel of judges — and the audience — at the 9th UCSF Postdoc Slam competition on Tuesday, September 22 faced a challenging task in evaluating a strong field of finalists, but in the end four presenters nabbed cash prizes for their 3-minute talks. A live crowd in Byers Auditorium at Mission Bay cheered on all ten finalists as they engaged attendees with presentations on a wide range of research topics, geared towards a general audience. Yet more people tuned in via the YouTube livestream, which has garnered over 400 views.
Organized by the Division of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs, the event was a fitting way to celebrate National Postdoc Appreciation Week, when we highlight the contributions of the over 1,000 postdocs who work at UCSF.
Read all about Postdoc Slam in the campus news story, and watch the winning talk: Why This One Small Blood Cell Is Your Secret to Living the High Life
Prize Winners
First Prize
Yolanda Martí Mateos, PhD
Isha Jain, PhD, faculty mentor
Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease / UCSF Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics
A Bloody Secret to Lower Sugar
Second Prize
Chaitali Anand, PhD
Carlo Condello, PhD, faculty mentor
Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases
Before the Storm: Mapping Tau in Down Syndrome to Predict Alzheimer's Next Move
Third Prize
Puspangana Singh, PhD
Shaeri Mukherjee, PhD, faculty mentor
Hooper Foundation
The Art of Cellular Sabotage: Lessons from a Master Hacker
People's Choice Prize
Shoshana Williams, PhD
Melanie Ott, MD, PhD, faculty mentor
Department of Medicine
No Lab, No Power, No Problem: Improving the Accessibility of Diagnostics
Finalists
Abhilash Barpanda, PhD
Arun Wiita, MD, PhD, faculty mentor
Department of Laboratory Medicine
Hidden in Plain Sight
Mahima Choudhury, PhD
Christopher Hernandez, PhD, and Kelsey Collins, PhD, faculty mentors
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
The Secret Phone Calls Between the Knees and the Gut
Deanna Halliday, PhD
Pamela Ling, MD, MPH faculty mentor
Department of Medicine
How Do You Quit a Quit Aid?
Meng Liu, PhD
Param Priya Singh, PhD, faculty mentor
Department of Anatomy
The Secret to a Younger Body Is in Your Brain
Christine Olson, PhD
Peter Turnbaugh, PhD, faculty mentor
Department of Microbiology and Immunology / Hooper Foundation
Missing the Brain Train
Bryan Ryder, PhD
Jason Gestwicki, PhD, faculty mentor
Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases
Clearing Protein Garbage through Unlocking the Proteasome
