Three Minute Thesis: could you explain years of research in the time it takes to boil an egg?

Since March 2014, Ebola has killed a reported 10, 704 people – but what if existing medicines could stop it in its tracks?

The final round of the third annual Three Minute Thesis competition at the University of Toronto showcased the work of fifteen PhD candidates. The winner: Stephen McCarthy, of the department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology, for his talk, “Towards an Ebola cure.”

McCarthy will now defend the university's title at the Three Minute Thesis provincial finals April 23 at Western University. (Read about last year's provincial winner, U of T's Daiva Nielson.) (Read about U of T's 2013 victory.)

The competition, originally developed by the University of Queensland, asks doctoral candidates nearing completion of their thesis to explain their research in less than three minutes, with no more than a single PowerPoint slide for a visual aid. Speak for even one second more? Pick up a prop? You’re disqualified on the spot.

If you think that’s hard, you’re right. Last year, McCarthy didn’t make it to the finals. (Read about last year's competition.)

“Having done a run at the competition last year was the best preparation,” said McCarthy. “It was really good to do it a year prior to defending, and learn from all the other great presentations from more senior students.”

McCarthy’s research has evolved over the course of his degree, in response to the epidemic in Western Africa. Initially focusing on HIV research, he was struck by the scale of the current outbreak, and came up with a new project: noting the similarity between the HIV virus and Ebola, he hypothesized that anti-retroviral drugs currently in use to fight HIV/AIDS might also block replication of Ebola. Using virus-like particles – specially altered to be safe for laboratory use – he then tested anti-retrovirals for their efficacy alone and in combination. A cocktail of the drugs dramatically reduced the virus’s ability to replicate itself.

McCarthy sees the competition as a chance not just to share research results, but also to drive future research.

“It was really incredible to see all the presentations from across the University of Toronto, a snapshot of the fascinating research that’s being done here, and made me proud to be a part of this research community,” he said. “Regardless of how far I got in the 3MT competition, it motivated me when I went back to the lab to do more experiments for my research project.”

He’s not alone in his enthusiasm for the interdisciplinary nature of the contest. Elissa Gurman of English took runner-up for her talk, “Consent and the Love Plot in Nineteenth-Century Anglo-American Fiction,” and she stresses the value in sharing her findings with scholars in other disciplines.

“It was a great experience, trying to talk about my project in a concise manner,” she said. “Placing was an amazing, even surprising, reassurance that people [in STEM disciplines] find my project significant.”

Contestants were judged for comprehension, engagement, and communication by a panel of faculty members and past contestants. (Read more about the road to the provincials.)

Professor Locke Rowe, dean of the School of Graduate Studies and chair of the judging panel, shares McCarthy’s and Gurman’s sense of the importance of the contest.

“It’s incredibly important for young researchers like Stephen to be able to communicate the significance of their findings to non-expert audiences,” said Rowe. “We’re very proud of the way this event puts a spotlight on the research being carried out by our graduate students. Our graduate students are asking important questions, employing innovative approaches, and they are able to communicate their remarkable results. Standing out in this group of finalists is a real achievement.”

Watch online as McCarthy competes to win the University of Toronto’s third provincial title in the Three Minute Thesis contest (Thursday, April 23, at 3 pm).

Rory McKeown is a writer with the School of Graduate Studies at the University of Toronto.