Translational Science Research Featured At “T1-T4 In 3 Minutes” Event
Two graduate students won awards at the 3rd annual “T1-T4 In 3 Minutes Challenge” event hosted by the Institute for Integration of Medicine & Science on July 7 at UT Health San Antonio.
The cross-collaborative event between the IIMS Community Health Advisory Board (CHAB), Community Engagement, and the Office of Research Education & Mentoring (OREM) gave community members and IIMS trainees a venue to present their research in three minutes to a live mixed audience of community members, faculty, staff and students. Presenters used language and concepts that are easy to understand with 1 slide.
Eleven presenters (3 community and 8 OREM trainees) shared their research findings to 67 online participants on many topics ranging from aging to diabetes to health promotion.
IIMS Community Health Advisory Board members Dr. Bryan Bayles – Texas A&M San Antonio, Ms. Martha Castilla – Edgewood ISD School Board, and Ms. Ann Salamone – Rochal Industries served as judges.
Together they selected the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners: People’s Choice Award ($1000), 1st Place Award ($750), 2nd Place Award ($500), 3rd Place Award ($250). Audience members selected the People’s Choice winner.
The winners are as follows:
“The T1-T4 in 3 minutes was a super fun event. I am happy I met wonderful community groups, new colleagues, and research,” said Afaf Saliba, the 3rd place award winner.
Afaf is part of the Translational Science Training TL1 2020 to 2021 scholar cohort along with Valentina Garbarino, Kristi Dietert (Guerrero), Clare Murray, Raphael Reyes, and Noah Sanchez. She is working with Dr. Kumar Sharma at the Center for Renal Precision Medicine (CRPM). In her project, she investigates molecular and metabolic pathways in diabetic kidney disease based on patient data analysis. She uses mice models and top-notch high-throughput techniques available at CRPM and aims to identify appropriate therapeutics to overcome this devastating complication of diabetes.
The Translational Science Training (TST) TL1 Program at UT Health San Antonio is supported by a NIH / National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), a federally funded career development training program for improving the scope of predoctoral trainees and postdoctoral fellows research experience. The TL1 ‘Training Linked’ Program is linked to the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) administered by the Institute for Integration of Medicine and Science (IIMS) at UT Health San Antonio. The competitive award includes stipend support for TL1 scholars in addition to training and mentorship in translational science.
“Current and former TL1 and TS PhD Scholars were well-represented, with 6 of 8 trainee competitors (75%) coming from one of our two programs. Many more joined the call to support their fellow trainees and to learn more about different Community Engagement models,” said Dr. Christopher Frei, program director of the Translational Science program.
Former TL1 Scholar Myrna Garcia won People’s Choice Travel Award. Myrna Garcia is a 6th year in the South Texas Medical Scientist Training program (4th year PhD student) studying tumor immmunology/immunotherapy under the mentorship of Dr. Tyler Curiel. Myrna’s research is focused on improving tumor response to immune checkpoint blockade agents in aged hosts with a focus on the PD-1/PD-L1/PD-L2 signaling axis.
“I had a lot of fun presenting my research at the T1-T4 in 3 minutes event. It was a great experience in learning how to present my research in a way that can be understood by a wide range of audiences,” Garcia said.
Reverend Winter is the pastor at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Pearsall, Texas. Dr. Maria Rayas is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology and KL2 Scholar at UT Health San Antonio.
