Meet our 3MT Finalists: Vaishali Todi

Vaishali Todi is a third-year graduate student in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology. Her 3MT presentation is titled "Understanding DNA segregation to improve cancer treatments." Learn more about Vaishali below.

Q: What brought you to Iowa State?

Todi

A: I was given the opportunity to sign up for a Master's integrated Ph.D. program at ISU. And the interdepartmental biological sciences program allows you to explore research in various departments, which was very interesting to me!

Q: Describe your research in three sentences or less.

A: I study the role of microtubules and its associated proteins in ensuring an accurate segregation of chromosomes during cell division.

Q: What do you hope to gain from Three Minute Thesis?

A: Most people often get intimidated when they hear words like molecular or cellular biology. My main aim is to make this subject and research around this more accessible to people, especially now with the pandemic, I think it's very critical that people understand the impact that is being made at the very microscopic levels in all our bodies.

Q: Share a fun fact about yourself.

A: I'm a huge fan of "The Office" and have watched the entire series at least 7 times!

Founded at the University of Queensland, Three Minute Thesis (3MT) challenges graduate students to present their research to a non-specialist audience in three minutes or less. This year, Iowa State's 3MT competition is entirely virtual. Get to know our seven outstanding finalists before we announce the winner, runner-up, and People's Choice Award recipient on January 25. Watch the full competition and vote for the People's Choice Award recipient.