Students' research achievements recognised in Dean’s Prize Awards 2021

An additional online event was held on Thursday 3rd May for the Faculty heat of the 3 Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition. The winner and runner-up from the heat will participate in the UCL finals, which will take place later this month.  

The events highlighted the wide range of research areas that students are involved in, from improving prostate cancer surgery, though to preventative therapy for people with tuberculosis, investigating the mechanisms behind fatigue in lupus patients, spine screening for dancers and research into whether lipids are suitable drug targets to treat autoimmune diseases. 

Speaking of the awards, Faculty Dean Prof Mark Emberton said: "Well done to all those who submitted their research and many congratulations to the winners, all of whom have all done a fantastic job of communicating complex science in an engaging and informative way. I thoroughly enjoy this day and hugely look forward to next year!"

For all categories, two prizes were awarded - a Judges’ Award (panel listed below) and a People’s Choice award (chosen by audience vote).

Award winners 

Postgraduate Research: 

• Judges’ Choice: Rishi Kumar Gupta (Division of Infection and Immunity), Precision Targeting of Preventative Therapy for Tuberculosis
   
•  People's Choice Christopher Wincup (Division of Medicine), Investigating Abnormal Iron Metabolism and Mitochondrial Dysfunction as a Novel Mechanism for Fatigue in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus 

3MT®:

• Judges’ Choice: Eoin Dinneen (Division of Surgery and Interventional Science), Potent Stuff! Preserving Erections in Men Who Are Having Prostate Cancer Surgery 
   
• People’s Choice: Olivia Bracken (Division of Medicine), Lipid Mediators – A Drug Target for Autoimmunity? 

Postgraduate taught: 

• Judges Choice: Lucie Rayner (MSc Performing Arts Medicine), Lumbar Flexicurve Apex Height Measurement: A New Spine Extension Screening Tool for Dancers 
   
• People’s Choice: Pinelopi Alexandropoulou (MSc Clinical and Public Health Nutrition), Inter-Individual Variability in Weight Loss Response to Dietary Interventions with Varying Macronutrient Distribution: A Systematic Review 

Undergraduate: 

• Judges’ Choice: Niraj Doshi (iBSc Medical Sciences with Clinical Sciences), A Genome-Wide Association Study of Non-Alcohol Related Fatty Liver Disease in India: Is there a Divergence in the Genetic Risk Profile?  
              
• People’s Choice: Abhinav Kumar (iBSc Medical Sciences with Oncology), Evaluating Potential Theranostic Agents that have an Application for Both Imaging and Radiosensitisation 

Judging panel

The posters and presentations were judged by:  

• Prof Justin Hsuan (Departmental Graduate Tutor - Research) 
• Dr William Coppola (Department Tutor and Head of Student Support) 
• Prof Vivek Mudera (Vice-Dean Education) 
• Dr Tom Carlson (Departmental Tutor - Taught) 
• Prof David Selwood (Departmental Tutor -Taught) 
• Prof Nathan Davies (Departmental Tutor - Undergraduate) 
• Prof Lorraine Noble (Departmental Graduate Tutor - Research) 
• Dr Darren Player (Departmental Undergraduate Tutor) 
• Dr Mohammed Said Noor (Departmental Lead Student Academic Representative -PGT) 
• Prof Catherine O’Keeffe (Departmental Graduate Tutor - Taught) 
• Miss Thiara Rupasinghe (Faculty Student Academic Representative - UG) 
• Prof Dave Spratt (Departmental Graduate Tutor - Taught)