UAB student Ana Sánchez wins the final of the "4 Minute Thesis" competition
Ana Sánchez, enrolled in the PhD programme in Biotechnology, represented the UAB and became the winner of the "4 Minute Thesis" competition, which was held on 22 June in Barcelona. A total of 125 PhD candidates from all across Catalonia participated in the event, which was organised by the Catalan Research and Innovation Foundation.
In representation of the UAB, Ana Sánchez Cano became the winner of the "4 Minute Thesis" competition, which took place on 22 June at the Auditorium of the Movistar Centre in Barcelona. The competition is organised by the Catalan Research and Innovation Foundation (FRCRI) and 12 Catalan universities, with the support of the Government of Catalonia. In this edition, representatives of all Catalan universities participated and Sánchez Cano won first prize with her thesis entitled “Pensa en blau per prevenir pandèmies”, dedicated to the use of synthetic cells to help fight the flu.
Cash prizes (€3,000, €2,000 and €1,000) were awarded to the three finalists. The second award went to Anna Alfocea, PhD student of the University of Barcelona (UB), who presented a thesis on developing and assessing magnesium phosphate cement by using industrial waste and by-products (“Desenvolupament i avaluació de ciments de fosfat de magnesi mitjançant l’ús de subproductes i residus industrials”). The third prize, elected by the audience, went to Ana Cristina Reguera from the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC), for her thesis on the butterfly effect, endosomes and obesity (“Efecto mariposa: del endosoma a la obesidad”).
The 12 finalists (8 women and 4 men) had all passed the previous stages of the competition at their respective universities, in which a total of 125 PhD students took part.
UAB Competition
Ana Sánchez was chosen after the UAB competition final held on 19 May at the Carles Perelló Hall of the UAB Doctoral School, which was also streamed on the UAB YouTube channel. As a student of the PhD programme in Biotechnology, Ana Sánchez won first prize and a cash prize of €800 for her PhD thesis in how synthetic cells could improve the control of flu pandemics.
The second prize (€500) webt to Bruno Rodríguez Meana, PhD graduate in Neuroscience, for his presentation on graphene-based neural electrodes to control neuroprosthesis.
The audience prize (€200) went to Judith Sánchez Ventura for her research on the plasticity and stability of the nervious system as part of the PhD programme in Neuroscience.
Other students who participated in the competition were Yron Joseph Manaig (Animal Production), Raül Ramos Fernández (Law), Marta Alcaina Hernando (Chemistry), Luis Gerardo Alcalá González (Medicine), Laura Balagué Dobón (Bioinformatics), Vasiliki Barou (Plant Biology and Biotechnology) and María do Campo Bayón (Translation).