Young Scientist Day

Wednesday 3rd February 2016

On Wednesday 3rd February the Department of Medicine hosted Young

Scientist Day 2016. This annual event, designed to benefit both PhD students and

Postdocs, saw a full programme of activities which included a PhD poster competition,

a Departmental ‘3-minute thesis’ competition, guest speakers and a networking

drinks event for all attendees.

The event was hugely popular and welcomed a large number of research students

and a handful of MRes and MSc students who joined in the day’s events.

The morning was dedicated to poster presentations where research students from all

five divisions had the opportunity to display their recent work to their colleagues and

the judges who circulated throughout the morning.

Judges and students mingle

during the poster competition

The standard of posters was very high and after careful deliberation the three winners

selected were:

First Prize: Vera Pader, (Microbiology) ‘Characterisation of a cryptic

daptomycin-resistance mechanism in Staphylococcus aureus’

Second Prize: Alan Liu, (Clinical Neuroscience) ‘Clarifying the human brain’

Third Prize: Miles Priestman, (Microbiology) ‘Drug-Tolerance in Mycobacteria’

Vera Pader accepting first prize

from Dr Kevin Murphy

Alan Liu and Miles Priestman accepting their second and third prizes for the PhD

Poster Competition from Dr Kevin Murphy

The afternoon was dedicated to

the Department’s ‘3-Minute

Thesis’ competition which saw one

PhD student from each Section

Cohort present their thesis

research to a judging panel in only

three minutes. The challenge

included twelve students from

different divisions who

communicated their research to

the judges and answered

questions from the audience.

After a series of entertaining presentations,

the prizes were awarded to Iris Scherwitzl for

her presentation ‘The role of Mucosal-

Associated Invariant T (MAIT) cells during

dengue infection’ and Leor Roseman who

spoke about ‘Reconstructing eyes-closed

psychedelic imagery’.

Both Iris and Leor will progress to the

College’s ‘3-Minute Thesis’ competition

hosted by the Graduate School and we wish

them the best of luck.

Leor Roseman giving his three minute presentation

PhD students watch the ‘3-minute thesis’

presentations

We also enjoyed two entertaining talks from Postdoc Laura Nellums and Research

Fellow Bryn Owen who provided some useful and good-humoured advice about life

after a PhD and their experiences in further research, both of which included

international career paths. PhD students had the opportunity to ask Laura and Bryn

questions about their respective careers in research before the evening was rounded

off by a networking drinks session which provided a more relaxed setting for students,

judges and speakers to socialise and muse over the day’s activities.

Young Scientist Day 2016 would not have been possible without the generous support

of the Graduate School, who provided funding for refreshments and prizes in support

of the day’s cohort building activities. We also express our thanks to Dr Kevin Murphy,

and to a number of other academics and Postdocs, who gave up their time to act as

judges for the poster and presentation sessions.

We look forward to making Young Scientist Day 2017 even bigger and better.

Katie Kissick, Department of Medicine k.kissick@imperial.ac.uk

Iris accepts first prize

from Higher Degrees

Manager Hayley Kendall-

Berry