Meet our 2021-22 3MT Finalists: Abesh Bera

Abesh Bera is in his fifth year of the microbiology doctoral program at Iowa State. His Three Minute Thesis (3MT) presentation, which he will deliver in the final round of Iowa State's 3MT competition on Oct. 28, is titled "Remote Spatial Coordination Within Cytoskeleton Regulates Timing of Cell Division." Ahead of the competition, Abesh answered questions about his graduate studies about Iowa State.

Q: What brought you to Iowa State?

A: The strong interdepartmental Microbiology program had all the right opportunities I was looking for in my prospective graduate school.

Abesh Bera

Q: Describe your research in three sentences or less.

A: Propagating genetic information to progenies is the driving force of life. By undergoing constant duplicative divisions, parent cells consign a copy of their genes to their progenies but also risk handing down mutations or even wrong number of genes. I research how cell division is timed to allow faithful delivery of duplicated genes to both parent and progeny cells during cell division.

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

A: Through my graduate school experience, I have come to learn the value of communicating complex scientific topics in simple terms for audiences from all walks of life. As a researcher, I believe that my contribution is to add knowledge to my field and make it easily accessible to everyone. The 3MT competition allows a perfect stage to learn and hone the skills required to communicate science expertly which will be immensely useful in the broader professional world after graduate school.

Q: Share a fun fact about yourself.

A: I have been into photography for nearly ten years- and one of the main reasons I joined my current lab was the abundant opportunities to view and photograph the fascinating inner life of living cells!

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.