UCI Grad Slam 2025
UCI Grad Slam 2025 FinalsMarch 13, 2025
Grad Slam is a systemwide competition that showcases and awards the best three-minute research presentations by graduate scholars. This in-person competition not only highlights the excellence, importance and relevance of UCI graduate scholars and their research, but it is also designed to increase graduate students’ communication skills and their capacity to effectively present their work with poise and confidence. It is an opportunity to share accomplishments with the campus, friends of UCI, the local community, and the broader public.
2025 Top-Three Finishers
Casey Vanderlip - First Place
Catching Alzheimer’s Disease Before It Starts—With a Simple Memory Game
Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the leading cause of dementia, is a growing global crisis, with cases expected to rise dramatically in the coming decades. A major challenge in fighting AD is early detection. By the time symptoms appear, the disease has already been silently damaging the brain for years. Current diagnostic tools, such as brain scans and spinal taps, are costly, invasive, and impractical for large-scale screening. Given the millions at risk, we urgently need an affordable, accessible, and scalable solution.
Our research focuses on developing digital memory tests that can be self-administered at home to detect AD-related memory changes early. Specifically, we the ability to distinguish between similar experiences because the brain regions responsible for this ability are among the first affected in AD. To test whether a memory task could aid in early detection, we designed a cognitive test that challenges individuals to distinguish between similar experiences and evaluated it in hundreds of older adults. We found that performance on this task identified individuals with elevated AD biomarkers even before any clinical signs of cognitive impairment emerged. More importantly, it predicted who would develop symptoms within the next two years, outperforming traditional methods like invasive brain scans.
These results highlight the potential of simple, low-cost digital tests for detecting AD in its earliest stages. By making these tools widely available, we aim to identify at-risk individuals before irreversible damage occurs, paving the way for earlier interventions and better outcomes.
Sydney Prange - Second Place
Abstract
The cells in our nervous system that allow us to think, feel, and move are called neurons, and they rely on specialized cellular antennas called dendrites to receive information from the world around us. If you picture a neuron as a tree, the dendrites are all the many branches. Unfortunately, in diseases like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and Huntington’s, neurons progressively lose their dendrites in a process called neurodegeneration. This progressive loss of dendrites along with other cellular changes lead to symptoms like memory loss and mobility issues because neurons cannot properly function. Thankfully, like the branches of trees which can grow back after being trimmed, dendrites are capable of regrowth, or regeneration, following injury. In my work, I am interested in whether degenerating dendrites can be protected or regrown after they are lost in neurodegenerative disease. Excitingly, I have found that degenerating dendrites can indeed be protected by injuring just one dendrite branch. In response to the injury, the other uninjured dendrite branches are protected and sometimes able to grow new dendrites. My work suggests that activating dendrite regeneration has potential to slow or even reverse dendrite loss in neurodegenerative disease. In my current studies, I am working to identify what parts of the dendrite regeneration pathways could be targeted for a potential therapeutic, revealing new possibilities for treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.
Emily Tom - Third Place
Abstract
My research focuses on understanding how aging affects the retina, the part of the eye that is responsible for vision. As we get older, the levels of certain fatty acids, which are crucial for maintaining the structural integrity of cell membranes, decrease in the retina. This decrease can lead to visual decline during aging and increase the risk for developing conditions such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), one of the leading causes of irreversible blindness in adults 65 years and older.
The goal of my work is to develop treatments to slow down or even reverse vision loss during aging and in people with AMD. To do this, my project investigates the role of a key enzyme, ELOVL2, which is responsible for producing these important fatty acids in the retina. The ELOVL2 gene is also one of the most robust biomarkers of aging. As we age, a specific part of the ELOVL2 gene becomes more methylated, meaning it undergoes changes that can turn the gene “on” or “off.” These changes in ELOVL2 can be used to accurately predict how old someone is, across different tissues in the body.
By understanding how ELOVL2 works and its role in age-related vision loss, my research aims to find new ways to treat or prevent conditions such as AMD and to help people maintain healthy vision as they age. Ultimately, this could lead to therapies that restore retinal health and improve quality of life for those affected by age-related eye diseases.
| 2025 In-Person Competition Schedule | |
|---|---|
| Applications Open | Thursday, November 22, 2024 |
| Grad Slam Information Session | Watch Here |
| Applications Close | Friday, January 17, 2025 |
| Grad Slam Pitch Workshop with Bri McWhorter (Virtual) | Wednesday, January 29, 2025. 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. PT |
| Grad Slam Pitch Workshop with Bri McWhorter (In-Person) | Thursday, January 30, 2025. 3 to 4 p.m. PT |
| In-Person Grad Slam UCI Semi-Finals | Friday, February 7, 2025 at the UCI Student Center |
| In-Person Grad Slam UCI Finals | Thursday, March 13, 2025 |
| Grad Slam Systemwide Finals | Tuesday, April 29, 2025 at the UC Center Sacramento |
| UCI After the Slam | Thursday, May 15, 2025 |