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UCSF welcomes activist and advocator Sylvia Mendez on November 12. » PAGE 3
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The Latina Who Desegregated CA
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SynapseNewspaper
The UCSF Student
synapse.ucsf.edu | Thursday, November 6, 2014 | Volume 59, Number 3
The Bay Area Science Festival Highlights the Importance of Storytelling Hanna Starobinets Staff Writer
“A ll science is, is rigorous storytelling,” said Adam Savage, co-
host of Mythbusters. His live interview with the Inquiring Minds podcast on Oct. 28 was part of the Bay Area Science Festival’s string of events that highlighted and celebrated the role of storytelling in science. When scientists conduct their research, they often refer to their phenotype and molecular mechanism as their “story.” The Bay Area Science Festival (BASF) has shown that those stories are intertwined with personal narratives, and sharing them with the public makes science personal and accessible. Three Minute Thesis Competition “We must be able to explain why our work matters. And if we can do it in under three minutes, so much the better,” said Elizabeth Watkins, Dean of the Graduate Division
and Vice Chancellor of Student Academic Affairs at UCSF. Introducing UCSF’s first Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition on Oct. 29, she stood before the standingroom only Genentech Hall, which was packed with members of the UCSF community as well as BASF attendees and science communication lovers. The nine finalists, UCSF PhD candidates chosen by a panel of preliminary judges, had the task of describing their graduate thesis in under three minutes to a “non-specialist audience” (graduate.ucsf.edu/3MT). The finalists were: Sama Ahmed (Neuroscience), Quinn Grundy (Nursing PhD), Laurens Kraal (Bioinformatics), Freeman Lan (Bioengineering), Alison Leaf (Tetrad), Isabel Nocedal (Tetrad), Laura Simpson (Biomedical Sciences), Ivan Vujkovic-
Three Minute Thesis. Competition gathered on stage.
Courtesy of Hanna Starobinets
Finalists in the inaugural UCSF Three Minute Thesis
Cvijin (Biomedical Sciences), and Chuchu Zhang (Neuroscience). The final judges at the live event were: UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood, Dean of the UCSF School of Pharmacy Joseph Guglielmo, and science journalists Ben Lillie, Gabriela Quirós, and Indre Viskontas. Ahmed took both first place and people’s choice prize, for a total of $3,750 in prize money, describing his work on the fruit fly’s ability to distinguish its own species from others. Deleting a single pheromone receptor, he created a fruit fly that no longer recognized species distinctions, and
performed courtship dances for other fly species several times its own size. Every one of the finalists turned their graduate career’s work into an accessible, bite-sized vignette. “Who knows, one day you may just see a yogurt that can prevent AIDS,” said Vujkovic-Cvijin, describing his work with HIV and the gut microbiome. Simpson likened microRNA control over cell biology to playing a piano chord, Leaf described complex intracellular trafficking events in terms of mailmen, gatekeepers
STORYTELLING » PAGE 7
UCSF students light the UCSF Pharmacy Students way for people impacted Compete Nationally Business Plan and by mental health Entrepreneurship Competition
Bryne Ulmschneider Staff writer
U CSF students lit candles for those impacted by mental health as part of a
California-wide event to honor, remember, and inspire all of those whose lives have been impacted by suicide or other struggles with mental health. Following the theme of the October 21st Mental Health Candle Light Event, which was “Hope by candlelight, creating a thousand lights,” each student wrote a message on a bag, lit an LED candle, and left it for others to read to make a statement of
Chris Foo Staff Writer caring, remembering, and supporting. According to organizers, the purpose of this event was to reinforce solidarity with other University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) campuses in a message of caring, remembrance and inspiration. It also showed support for UCSF affiliates that are impacted by mental health. “I think mental
MENTAL HEALTH » PAGE 7
T his October, four students from the UCSF School of Pharmacy competed
at the national NCPA Pruitt-Schutte Student Business Plan Competition. The annual competition fosters healthcare entrepreneurship in schools of pharmacy throughout the country. Teams compete by writing business plans. Their plans are either based off of an existing business or are created from scratch.
Students must get creative by learning to utilize business skills based around market analyses, financial accounting, business development and critical thinking. This year, students Mariko Yokokura (P3), Nancy Wong (P3), Jay Barcelon (P2) and Chris Foo (P2) comprised the UCSF team. They were guided by faculty mentors Dr. John Kong, Dr. Kevin Rodondi and Dr. Brian Komoto.
PHARMACY » PAGE 7