Research that offers the promise of a pharmaceutical fix for age-related sight loss earned a Waterloo PhD candidate top honours in the provincial Three-Minute Thesis competition.
Won’s research focuses on the development of a pharmaceutical treatment for presbyopia, an age-related condition that causes the eyes to lose the ability to focus on nearby objects. The treatment specifically targets and softens the crystalline lens in order to restore nearby vision.
He advanced to the provincial final after being chosen from among 200 graduate student participants in the 3MT competition at University of Waterloo.
The 3MT competition challenges graduate students to articulate the breadth and significance of their research to a non-specialist audience in 3 minutes, using only 1 static slide. Twenty universities from across Ontario took part in the competition, each sending their top finalistforward to the provincial final. Gah-Jone’s presentation is now in the running for the national 3MT prize, sponsored by the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies (CAGS).
Won is supervised by Dr. Vivian Choh, an Associate Professor in the School of Optometry and Vision Science.
Upon completion of his PhD, Gah-Jone will undertake a postdoctoral fellowship. He hopes to continue his research career with an academic position in the future.
