The Graduate College hosted its 11th annual UNLV Rebel Grad Slam 3-Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition in November. This year, over 90 graduate and professional students from across the university signed up to compete for scholarships and the title of 3MT Champion.
Throughout the week, students competed in preliminary rounds, with 36 moving to the semifinals and nine to the finals. This event was a campuswide effort, as over 90 faculty and staff signed up as judges, including UNLV President Keith E. Whitfield and Executive Vice President and Provost Chris Heavey. The Graduate College awarded over $14,000 in scholarships.
The 2024 winner was April Contreras, a member of the Hines Group lab in the UNLV psychology department. Contreras, now in her final year of the interdisciplinary neuroscience Ph.D. program, is focused on finding a better way to treat seizures in infants and children with developmental epilepsy syndromes.
“Current frontline treatments are a class of drugs called benzodiazepines, which are sedative-hypnotics that stop signaling in the brain to stop seizures,” stated Contreras. “Stopping signaling in a growing brain is a problem, and leads to cognitive deficits and other effects that reduce quality of life.”
The Hines Lab collaborated with a lab from New Mexico State University to synthesize a molecule similar to CBD but extracted from caraway or fennel seed rather than cannabis. By looking at the effects of this novel molecule on the brain and behavior of mice, they were able to show that it can stop seizures without the harm that happens with traditional antiepileptic therapies and interventions.
“Purified cannabidiol (CBD) oil from cannabis is an approved therapy for a very select population of children with severe epilepsy syndromes, which leaves a lot of other patients without an accessible alternative," said Contreras.
The Hines Group supports both undergraduate and graduate research. “The Hines group loves to participate in the Rebel Grad Slam," Contreras said. “When the competition was announced, our group came together to discuss the presentations, and many students from the lab competed. Two of us, Haley Strong and me, made it to the final.”
When Contreras was an undergraduate at UNLV studying psychology with a neuroscience minor, she developed an interest in understanding the brain and behavior. "I knew I wanted to study neuroscience after taking Dr. Rochelle Hines’ PSY 303 – Foundations of Neuroscience," she said. "Before that class, I didn’t know much about the field of neuroscience."
A typical week for Contreras’ varies greatly. One week she may be working on animal data, another she might be writing a manuscript. When she is not in the lab, she can be found climbing at Red Rock Canyon or practicing yoga.
Contreras will represent UNLV at the Western Association of Graduate School 3MT Competition in spring 2025. “My former labmate and colleague, Dr. Kendra McGlothen, represented UNLV at the regional competition twice. I’m lucky to have her as a mentor. Thanks to her feedback and experience, I feel prepared to compete.”
Contreras will complete her doctorate soon after the regional competition and is looking for post-doctoral opportunities, hoping to continue with her research in the field.
