Dr. Nana Lee and judges congratulate all eight PhD students: Audrey Kassardjian (Immunology), Marim Barghash (Biochemistry), Krithika Muthuraman (Biochemistry), Paraskevi Massara (Nutritional Sciences), Shimon Rosenthal (Molecular Genetics), Shelley He (Biochemistry), Fernando Valencia (Cell and Systems Biology), Avinash Mukkala (Institute of Medical Sciences) for their brilliant creations for social innovations for the scientific world and their awesome pitch presentations! Honorable mentions go to our two pitch winners, Shelley He and Fernando Valencia. Thank-you to our judges: special guest Dr. Sean Clarke from MIT Biological Engineering, Dr. Steven Molinski, Biochemistry PhD alumnus at CCRM, and Carey Toane, Entrepreneurship Librarian, U of Toronto. DTS is also designed through an innovative students-as-partners model, with previous students returning to mentor current cohorts. Special thank-you to student leader Simoun Icho (Biochemistry) for his intensive involvement and enthusiastic mentorship in every class with part-time supports from Julia Gauberg (Cell and Neurobiology) and Gregory Martyn (Molecular Genetics). Great work to our multidisciplinary team!
Student Innovative Ideas were as follows.
Audrey Kassardjian (Immunology)
Bite-Sized Science Entertaining STEM learning for today’s youth
Marim Barghash (Biochemistry)
Meeting Methods A program to optimize lab meetings
Krithika Muthuraman (Biochemistry)
SORT-R Segregate, Optimize, Recycle and transcend to environmentally friendly research
Paraskevi Massara (Nutritional Sciences)
MOSS4Research Mature, Optimize, Streamline, Succeed for Research
Shimon Rosenthal (Molecular Genetics)
Chassidim Talk Science Promoting scientific literacy in underrepresented communities.
Shelley He (Biochemistry)
Cue Me In A graduate student wellness program
Fernando Valencia (Cell & Systems Biology)
Labcoats 2 briefcases A teaching advancement program for graduate students
Avinash Mukkala (Institute of Medical Sciences)
Connector The graduate student job acquisition pipeline