Meet our 2021-22 3MT Finalists: Swathy Krishna

October 26, 2021 - by Sarah Igram

Swathy Krishna, a fourth-year Ph.D. student in Genetics and Genomics, will compete in the Graduate College's sixth annual Three Minute Thesis competition on Oct. 28. Learn more about Swathy below, and watch her presentation, "Does a High-fat High Sugar Diet Make Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) Worse?" on Thursday at 6 p.m.

 

Photo of Swathy Krishna

Swathy Krishna

Q: What brought you to Iowa State?

A: I was looking for a program that best fits with my background in genetics while providing an opportunity to explore and pursue the research that interests me most. The interdepartmental genetics and genomics program provided exactly this.

 

Q: Describe your research in three sentences or less.

A: I study the impact of insulin resistance/obesity on disease severity in Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a progressive muscle degenerative disease. I am also interested in understanding the effects of activation of autophagy in dystrophic muscles.

 

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

A: 3MT gives me practical experience boiling my working down to its most crucial elements and then conveying it to the public in a comprehendible way. These aspects, integration of data, oral communication, and sharing my work with the public are important parts of being a scientist.

 

Q: Share a fun fact about yourself.

A: I love riding a motorcycle; the wind on my face makes me feel free. But I always wear a helmet because I’ve invested too much to have all that knowledge spread out over the pavement for everyone to see.

 

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 Oct. 28 at 6 p.m. You can watch a livestream of the event on the Graduate College's Facebook page.

Tags: three minute thesis, genetics and genomics, academic awards