Francisca Durán Awarded for Research on Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura Detection
The PhD student was named winner of the 13th edition of the 3 Minute Thesis (3MT®) contest, which took place on August 7th at the UC Chile Anacleto Angelini Innovation Center. In her presentation, Francisca discussed her doctoral research on a prototype for detecting thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), a rare and serious blood disorder that has a mortality rate of 90 percent. Francisca also won the Audience Award by a wide margin.
photo_camera Francisca Durán, new winner of the contest, will have the opportunity to represent UC Chile at the 3MT® finals organized by the U21 Network, of which UC Chile is a member alongside other 28 major international institutions. Photo credit: César Dellepiane.
Eleven UC Chile PhD students were selected for the contest’s finals, after a successful call for proposals that received 39 submissions from 21 doctoral programs.
The finalists were: José Flores, from the doctoral program in Agricultural and Natural Sciences; Isha Shailesh, from the doctoral program in Astrophysics; Francisca Durán, from the doctoral program in Biological and Medical Engineering; Ingry Quinchanegua, from the doctoral program in Chemistry; Rohan Rahatgaonkar, from the doctoral program in Astrophysics; Juan Carlos Prieto, from the doctoral program in Neuroscience; María Andreína Arias, from the doctoral program in Engineering Sciences; Carlos Corrial and Omar Vallejos, from the doctoral program in Biological Sciences with a mention in Molecular and Microbiological Engineering; and Constanza Márquez and Javiera Carraha, both from the doctoral program in Geography.
The finals took place in the UC Chile Anacleto Angelini Innovation Center’s main auditorium, and they were also livestreamed from the UC Chile Graduate School Youtube channel. In this version, the jury was chaired by Graduate School director, Diego Cosmelli; dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Design, and Urban Studies, Magdalena Vicuña; manager of Transforma Alimentos, Nicolás Urrutia; science journalist, Nicolá Luco; and by first prize winner in the 2024 edition of the contest, Benjamín Diethelm.
In his welcoming address, UC Chile President Juan Carlos de la Llera remarked that “for UC Chile, this contest is a concrete expression of how we understand doctoral research, a powerful tool for the development of the country and the wellbeing of the people. I congratulate those who have reached this final stage today and I convey to you my admiration for having accepted this challenge. In these three minutes each of you has prepared with effort, there is a very powerful statement: that research can and must engage in dialogue with the world. And that knowledge, when shared with honesty and grace, has the power to change things.”
For this edition of the 3MT® contest, the finalists covered various areas of knowledge and solutions for global challenges, ranging from the relationship between fungal language for stronger tomatoes; learning about climate change; neurological aftereffects of COVID-19; treating blood disorders with nanotechnology; probiotics and the immune system; black holes and the lives of galaxies; substructures in the nearby universe; monitoring of glacial and periglacial landforms in the Andes and water columns; to green solvents and the development of devices for cleaning food.
Winners and categories
First place was awarded to Francisca Durán, from the doctoral program in Biological and Medical Engineering, for her presentation “Microscopic Marvels: Illuminating Blood Disorders with Nanotechnology,” earning a prize of 1,400,000 Chilean pesos. She also received the Audience Award, which carried an additional worth of 350,000 Chilean pesos.
Second place, with a prize of 700,000 Chilean pesos, was awarded to Rohan Rahatgaonkar, student from the doctoral program in Astrophysics, for his work “Neighborhood watch: A survey of faint substructures in the nearby Universe.”
Lastly, an honorary mention was given to José Flores, from the doctoral program in Agricultural and Natural Sciences, for his outstanding presentation “From lab to kitchen: Developing a safe food-cleaning device.”
UC Chile Vice President for Research María Angélica Fellenberg highlighted the inspiring aspect of the day: “This contest reminds us that research is conducted not only in laboratories, archives or databases, but also in our ability to communicate what we do, connect with others, and create value beyond academia. This initiative invites our students to translate the complexity of their work into messages that inspire, move, and generate dialogue with society.”
First prize and Audience Award: “Recognition of my work as a scientist”
Francisca Durán, from the doctoral program in Biological and Medical Engineering, won both the First Prize and the Audience Award. Her research aims to develop an accessible system for detecting thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), a disease that can currently be diagnosed only through complex analyses in specialized laboratories. To address this problem, Francisca designed a prototype, an innovative solution that uses nanoparticles to detect levels of the ADAMTS13 protein, whose deficiency can cause the disease.
“This is a great recognition of the work I’m doing as a scientist and how I’m communicating science to other people, because my thesis is very complex and this event helped me to better communicate what I’m doing. The Audience Award is also wonderful because it means I’m being recognized by my peers.”
Since 2013, the Graduate School of the Office of the Vice President for Research has been running the 3MT® contest, created in 2008 by Queensland University, Australia. The contest aims to enhance the skills of research communication and academic presentation of UC Chile PhD students through a 3-minute pitch in English of the main aspects of their doctoral research, in more familiar language that can be understood by a non-specialist audience. To date, more than 336 UC Chile doctoral students have participated, with the number increasing every year.
