A team of students working with Chemistry Professor Maria DeRosa have won the 2010 Dance Their PhD competition sponsored by Science Magazine.
Led by doctoral student Maureen McKeague, the team beat out three other finalists to take the title. They were presented with a $1,000 cheque last night in New York City at the Imagine Science Film Festival.
“I never thought I’d be asked to dance my thesis,” says McKeague. “But I’m delighted that this kind of competition is helping to get the word out about our scientific research at Carleton that could eventually be used to diagnosis heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease and birth defects.”
Richard Losick, a molecular biologist at Harvard and one of the judges, says he chose the video “because it effectively integrated the concept of what happens during the process being depicted with the movement of the dancers.”
“The dance was enjoyable and humourous to watch in and of itself. I am planning to show it in my molecular biology lecture.”
Dr. DeRosa’s research examines a type of nucleic acid called aptamers that can bind tightly to a specific molecule. Aptamers come from the greek aptus meaning “to fit.” She and her team are using chemistry tools to understand how these pieces of DNA or RNA can fold into certain shapes that make pockets for these targets. This information can then be used to design useful devices out of these nucleic acids, like biosensors or smart therapeutics. Given increasing concerns about infectious diseases, bioterrorism agents and environmental contaminants, there is an urgent need to develop these kinds of innovative sensing tools for the rapid and accurate detection of these substances.
The winning team consists of: Johny Abboud, Mike Beking, Elyse Bernard, Charlotte Bradley, Amanda Foster, Tariq Francis, Amanda Giamberardino, Uyen Ho, Erin McConnell, Laura Novitsky, Yasir Sultan, Ryan Walsh, Xiao Li Wang and Xueru Zhang. All except Novitsky are Dr. DeRosa’s students.
You can view the winning video at: http://vimeo.com/14528924.
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For more information:
Maureen McTeague
PhD Student, Carleton University
In New York: Hampton Inn, 1-212-947-9700
(cell) 613-808-9456
mmckeague@gmail.com
Lin Moody
Media Relations
Carleton University
613-520-2600, ext. 8705
lin_moody@carleton.ca
Tuesday, October 19, 2010 in News Releases
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