When Ubong Peters entered Dal鈥檚 Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, he didn鈥檛 necessarily have his sights set on winning.
鈥淚 was focused on learning from the experience,鈥� explains the Biomedical Engineering PhD student.
鈥淚 wanted to get hands-on practice at developing an effective 鈥榚levator pitch鈥� for my research, a simple way of explaining, if asked, what I鈥檝e done over the past six years. I have so many interesting results, so I knew it was going to be a challenge.鈥�
Ubong rose to that challenge: after taking home first prize at the Dalhousie event in March, he flew to Newfoundland to compete in the Eastern Regional 3MT competition at Memorial University on April 27. There, he finished in second place 鈥斅爂ood enough to gain entry to the national finals.
鈥淭he competition was quite stiff, and while I really wanted to bring home the top prize, there were a lot of excellent students and I鈥檓 quite happy with my second place finish,鈥� says Ubong.
Voting currently underway
The national 3MT finals, which are now underway, are different than the school and regional competitions in that the contestants don鈥檛 compete in person. Instead, a panel of judges 鈥斅爄ncluding CBC Ideas producers Tom Howell and Nicola Luksic, CIHR Director General Danika Goosney and Tragically Hip Guitarist Rob Baker 鈥� will assess the competitors based on videos filmed at their respective regional showdowns.
And, as is the case with most 3MT competitions, there鈥檚 also a People鈥檚 Choice component: , and you can vote for Ubong or one of the other contestants to help them earn a $500 prize. (The winner of the judged competition will receive $1,500, with second place receiving $1,000.)
Voting for the people鈥檚 choice award closes at 4 p.m. Atlantic time on Thursday, May 19.
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Sharing his research
Ubong, who hopes to defend his dissertation this summer in anticipation of graduating in the fall, studies medical devices used to help assess respiratory illnesses such as asthma and other ailments. The traditional way of assessing the severity of respiratory symptoms is with a technique known as spirometry, in which a patient takes a deep breath and blows out air as fast and hard as possible into a measurement device.
The problem with traditional spirometry, as Ubong explains in his 3MT presentation, is it has very little to do with how we breathe in our normal lives and can often give false negative results. For example, patients with obesity can often have respiratory problems that go undetected by spirometric devices.
In the first part of Ubong鈥檚 research, he worked with Geoff Maksym, director of Dal鈥檚 School of Biomedical Engineering, on the development of a device known as tremoFlo. The device 鈥斅爊ow a product offered by 鈥� sends small puffs of air into the lungs while patients breathe normally, assessing how easy or difficult it is for air to move in and out of the lungs. In the second part of his research, Ubong tested the device on patients with severe obesity before and after weight-loss surgery. The patients demonstrated improved breathing after their weight loss as well as an improvement in sleep quality, with Ubong鈥檚 research confirming the Tremoflo technique is more sensitive to measuring breathing difficulties.
Support from the community
Ubong says he鈥檚 had great support from Dr. Maksym as well as his co-supervisors: Dr. Gail Dechman (School of Physiotherapy) and Dr. Paul Hernandez (head of the Division of Respirology) as well as surgeon Dr. James Ellsmere, all of whom played key roles in his research.
When asked how many times he鈥檚 had to practice his 3MT speech, he says it鈥檇 be impossible to count 鈥� but it鈥檚 been a lot. Now, though, with his video recorded, he awaits word on how he does in the national competition.
鈥淚鈥檝e really enjoyed [the competition] and happy I鈥檝e been able to make the people in our lab and across Dal proud,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been a truly rewarding experience.鈥�
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