Meet our 2022-23 3MT finalists: Abigail Koep

Abigail Koep

Abigail Koep is a second-year Ph.D. student at Iowa State in Chemical Engineering. You can catch her Three Minute Thesis presentation, "Developing a Nanoscale Force-Mediated Drug Delivery System for Lung Fibrosis," during next week's final competition.

Q: What brought you to Iowa State?

A: I got my B.S. in Chemical Engineering here at Iowa State and enjoyed my time here so much that I decided to get my Ph.D. here too.

Q: Describe your research in three sentences or less.

A: I am developing a nanoscale force-mediated drug delivery system for lung fibrosis using DNA as a biomaterial. The main components of the system are completely made of DNA, from the base structure to the biosensors.

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

A: I hope to gain more experience in sharing my project and in giving live presentations.

Q: Share a fun fact about yourself.

A: I have been to eight countries outside of the United States.

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. Iowa State's eight finalists will compete in our final competition on Nov. 10 at 2 p.m. You can watch a livestream of the event on the Graduate College's Facebook page.