Thoughtful and meticulous – these are the first two words that came into my mind when I first read Sharmelee Selvaraji’s answers to my interview questions. While I did not have a chance to meet her face-to-face since it was an email interview, I was impressed by the amount of effort she put into crafting these in-depth and well-articulated responses.
It was not a surprise then to know that such a dedicated individual was also the winner of the Singapore National 3-Minute-Thesis (3MT) 2021 competition hosted by NUS Graduate Students’ Society (GSS). Originally, 3MT is an academic competition developed by the University of Queensland for research graduate students and now has global participation with over 200 universities in more than 18 countries. GSS has been organising NUS 3MT since its inauguration and in 2021, hosting the National round virtually on Zoom for participants from different universities in Singapore.
Currently a PhD Neuroscience student at NUS with an International Student Exchange Program Scholarship, Sharmelee is also a Novo Nordisk International Talent Programme Scholar. After losing the National competition by a slim margin in 2020, she was determined to enter the competition again this year. She clinched the first prize and became NUS and Singapore’s representative in the Asia Pacific Competition. In addition, Sharmelee was selected as one of the nine finalists for the Asia Pacific 3MT Competition, out of 54 entries.
Below is an edited excerpt of the interview with Sharmelee. Let’s dive deep into her ideas as well as her preparation process for the competition.
Office of Student Affairs (OSA): Could you give us a brief overview of your thesis pitch?
Sharmelee Selvaraji (SS): My work is on studying the epigenetics (gene-environment interaction) in a mouse model of Vascular dementia. In addition to understanding the pathophysiology, I had introduced intermittent fasting (IF) in mice to study whether it modulated the epigenetics to help slow down, if not to prevent the disease.
As much as we might have read and heard that chronic conditions, family history and genetic mutations might lead to diseases, a large contribution comes from environmental factors such as stress, alcohol consumption, smoking, diet, etc. With literature showing the contribution of epigenetics in driving the disease progression, I wanted to find out the effect of introducing intermittent fasting in the mouse model of Vascular dementia. I am particularly interested in advocating the potential of intermittent fasting in slowing down the progression of Vascular dementia. I hope to provide more scientific evidence for it and bring it forward, making it translatable in Vascular dementia patients.
OSA: How long did it take you to prepare your 3MT submission (both video and presentation)?
SS: My participation in 3MT in 2020 helped me craft my submission faster this year. I was more into analysing what went right, and what did not work so as to improve my submission. Preparing for my presentation script was done within two hours and my presentation slide was a Eureka moment (after almost an hour of thinking of what could go into it). As for the video recording, it took about an hour with several retakes.
It was challenging to simplify scientific jargons, compress concepts and deliver these ideas with an impact all within three minutes when you have so much to say and show. However, I enjoyed [the process] because this is exactly what I aim to do - to be able to convey to the public what is being done in Science and help them understand that the term ‘Rocket Science’ is only as fancy as it sounds until you take the step to break it down.
OSA: Was there any challenge that you faced during the competition?
SS: There is a fine line between simplifying the thesis and oversimplifying it. I initially struggled to omit an important part of my thesis about epigenetics (specifically DNA methylation which is one of the epigenetic mechanisms). Eventually, I managed to strike a balance by mentioning it as a gene-environment interaction and stating relatable examples to better understand it without taking much time.
OSA: What was your biggest lesson from the competition?
“இதுவும் கடந்து போகும்..” (in English, this too shall pass) is a quote that I live by. I believe my fellow PhD students would agree that it is not just the “Science” part that is challenging in this journey. It is an emotional ride, but we need to persevere and trust that things will get better and work towards it.
I started off my PhD journey knowing nothing about bioinformatics. I had to learn from scratch and the learning curve was very steep. Although I am still at beginner level, I am now able to write some codes, design pipelines and have picked up sufficient skills to analyse my data.
At the end of this PhD journey, what we have in hand is not just the degree, thesis and several publications (hopefully!). Looking back, I believe we have been moulded by countless experiences. This, to me, is what the Doctor of Philosophy journey is all about.
OSA: Do you have any message/advice for graduates who are working on their theses, or looking to join the competition?
SS: I go by the belief that we are all on our own unique paths and we should not compare ourselves to others. Yes, we are all in a race but our tracks are different, our start lines are different and our destination is most likely different too. You are the only person who knows your thesis best, so give it your all and let your work speak for you.
Those considering joining the 3MT competition, please give it a try. It is an experience not to be missed. I had my fair share of failure before, but that has brought me back, stronger now if I may say. I will be more than happy to share my experiences with you if you are interested. You can email me at e0358056@u.nus.edu. All the best!
| Post interview and at press time: |
| Sharmelee was shortlisted at the Virtual Asia-Pacific 3MT Semi-Final Showcase, and received the “Highly Commended prize” at the U21 Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition 2021.This is the first time NUS has received a U21 3MT award. Congratulations Sharmelee! Catch a glimpse of Sharmelee in action here. |
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Writer: Le Khuc Hoang Uyen
Photos: Sharmelee Selvaraji
