Congratulations Nadine Robert, PhD candidate in the School of Dental Medicine Department of Oral and Craniofacial Sciences, on winning the People's Choice Prize at the 2024 Pitt Three Minute Thesis Competition! This University-wide competition brought together 9 Pitt PhD students who are conducting ground-breaking research across various disciplines and tested their ability to effectively explain their research to a non-specialist audience in only three minutes and using only one slide. Nadine was awarded the People's Choice Prize after receiving the most audience votes for favorite presentation.
For the competition, Nadine presented her dissertation project titled, "How do cells recognize and respond to phosphate?". Her research in Dr. Dobrawa Napierala's laboratory aims to understand causes that lead to impaired bone mineralization, particularly in children with soft bones. Nadine and the research team found that bones' forming cells need to possess the parathyroid hormone 1 receptor (Pth1r) to recognize and respond to phosphate ions for proper mineralization.
Pitt Dental Medicine Student Research Group is very proud of Nadine for successfully representing Pitt Dental Medicine and we are excited to celebrate your future career accomplishments! Thank you to all the students and faculty who came to support Nadine!