MCCB students lead in science communication at UMass Chan’s 2025 3MT event

Congratulations to MCCB students Michael Lero and Chaitanya Parikh for taking top honors at the UMass Chan Morningside GSBS Three Minute Thesis Competition!

Founded by the University of Queensland, Australia, the 3MT event has grown to include more than 900 universities worldwide. This is the second year UMass Chan has hosted the event.

What’s involved? PhD students are challenged to present their dissertation research—geared toward a non-specialist audience—in three minutes or less, using only a single static slide. To enter the competition, students submitted a pre-recorded video for an initial round of judging. Finalists were then selected to advance to the final live round and received feedback to help refine their presentations. At the finals, presentations were evaluated by a panel of judges on two criteria: comprehension and content, and engagement and communication.

Michael, a student in the Shaw Lab, was awarded First Prize for his talk “Making Treatment for Aggressive Breast Cancer More Effective.” In his presentation, he outlined a promising strategy to make PI3K-targeted chemotherapies more effective, potentially allowing the drugs to be given at a lower dose to minimize harmful side effects. Michael received $1,000 and a chance to compete at a regional 3MT competition in the spring.

Chaitanya, a student in the Ruscetti Lab, captured the audience’s vote for the People’s Choice Award for his talk “Rewriting Cancer’s Code: Using mRNA to Unmask Pancreatic Cancer.” In his talk he discussed how his mRNA-based approach has dramatically improved survival in mouse model of pancreatic cancer. His presentation earned him a $750 award.

Congratulations once again to both students for their outstanding work and compelling research storytelling!

Learn more about the event by visiting UMass Chan’s posts on LinkedIn and Instagram.