Ektate Wins Twice at 3MT

Thursday, February 25, 2016

Kalyani Ektate of Nagpur, Maharashtra in India, strives to stop the spread of cancer in both animals and humans. Working on her PhD in Veterinary Biomedical Sciences, she recently presented her research, “War Against Cancer,” during the 3 Minute Thesis Competition held at OSU’s Center for Veterinary Health Sciences. Ektate placed third ($100) and won the People’s Choice Award ($300).

The object of the competition is to hone the presenter’s skills to successfully describe his or her research in laymen’s terms in three minutes or less. A panel of three judges from outside the veterinary center selected first, second and third places while those attending the competition voted for the People’s Choice Award.

“My long term goal is to optimize and provide uniform intratumoral delivery of antitumor drugs with real-time control,” explains Ektate. “I want to keep working on novel ideas to fight cancer in both animals and humans.”

Ektate earned her DVM degree equivalent (a bachelor’s in Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry) from the Maharashtra Animal and Fishery Science University in India. She is pursuing her PhD in Veterinary Biomedical Sciences in the veterinary center’s Department of Physiological Sciences. Her advisor is Dr. Ashish Ranjan, principal investigator in the Laboratory of Nanomedicine and Targeted Therapy (http://ashishr.okstate.edu/).

“The multidisciplinary approach considers both animal health and biomedical research,” says Ektate. “The specific focus of my work is nanomedicine and image guided drug delivery. The applicability of my research in nanomedicine and drug delivery for treating cancer is amazing and keeps me motivated to continue my work.”

You can view Ektate’s award winning presentation at 3 Minute Thesis Competition.