At the conclusion of the 2026 UCSF Grad Slam competition on Tuesday, April 7, four PhD students nabbed prizes for their 3-minute talks, but all of the finalists engaged the audience with presentations on a wide range of research topics, all geared towards a general audience. A lively full house crowd cheered them on in Byers Auditorium at Mission Bay, and the YouTube live stream garnered over 500 views.
Organized by the Division of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs (GEPA), Grad Slam challenges PhD students to offer a compelling presentation of their dissertation research in three minutes or less, using language that is accessible to a broad audience. Dean Nicquet Blake hosted the competition, with Assistant Dean D'Anne Duncan serving as emcee for the lively event. Grad Slam was one of numerous events organized by GEPA in celebration of National Graduate Student Appreciation Week.
Brandon Courteau, a PhD student in the Tetrad program co-mentored by Drs. Natalia Jura and Kliment Verba, took the 1st prize of $4,000 for his talk Protein Love Island: How Recoupling HER3 Could Reveal New Possibilities for Breast Cancer Therapeutics. In his research, Brandon uses cryo-EM to study the structure of unexpected HER3/HER3 receptor complexes, which could potentially lead to new cancer therapeutics in the future. He will go on to represent UCSF in the UC Systemwide Grad Slam on April 22, where prizes totaling $28K will be up for grabs.
>>> Read more about Grad Slam and the prize winners' talks in the campus news story: “Love Island-Style” Power Couple Might Help Unlock HER2 Cancer
