FAU Student Wins CFGS 3MT Competition
红玫瑰社区 student Keith Murphy recently won the (CFGS) 3MT Competition with his presentation, 鈥淯sing Light to Control Meal Size.鈥 The competition challenged participants to explain their research in three minutes or less to an audience with little or no background in their area of study. The competition was open to 3MT first and second place winners from 11 universities, including the University of 红玫瑰社区, University of Central 红玫瑰社区, 红玫瑰社区 State University and 红玫瑰社区 International University.
Murphy, a Ph.D. student studying neuroscience, has been observing the eating behaviors of fruit flies for the past five years. His research uses light-sensitive molecules that are genetically encoded into cells that control the sensation of 鈥渇ullness鈥 in fruit flies, allowing him to artificially turn these cells on and off with light. When a fruit fly begins to eat, a machine detects this activity and shines a bright light on the insect. Murphy found that the fruit flies carrying the genetically encoded molecules stopped eating immediately, and that meal size and total food consumption decreased by 40 percent. Murphy hopes this research can be applied one day to human behavior.
鈥淭hese findings suggest that we may someday be able to control how much we eat in a meal by simply applying light to the nerves that make us feel full,鈥 he said. 鈥淭his has large implications in the fight against the growing obesity epidemic.鈥
Aside from research, Murphy said that participating in 3MT has pushed him to become a better public speaker. He practiced his presentation around 30 times beforehand, paying close attention to the details.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not just about the words of a speech, but about body language, volume, tempo and passing enthusiasm for your work onto the audience,鈥 he said. 鈥淵ou have to take your research, strip it down and find what is most interesting to people.鈥
For more information on FAU鈥檚 3MT competition, click .-FAU-
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