![\"Group](\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-spokane\/uploads\/sites\/456\/2018\/12\/ScienceBites-competitors-judges_cropped.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nScience Bites competitors and judges at the 2018 event. From left to right, in the back: Dyston Madsen, Panshak Dakup, Trevor Kirby, Philip Wibisono, Soumyadeep Sarkar, Siavosh Naji-Talakar, and Chancellor Daryll DeWald. Center: Shannon Kozlovich, Priyanka Bushana. Front: Xinyue Dong, Laken Kruger, Celestina Barbosa-Leiker, Shamema Nasrin, and Shirley Moore. <\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n During his talk, Sarkar compared the sun and its UV radiation to \u201cgrandparents giving us too much love that we can\u2019t handle\u201d and the ozone layer to \u201cparents who filter out the excess love and protect us from being stinky spoilt.\u201d He went on to describe the hypothesis behind his dissertation as an epic tale that involved two noble knights (DNA repair and melanin) who protect the royals (DNA) from the angry sun and its UV radiation. The circadian clock, he said, is like the good army general who directs the soldiers (or knights) to win against solar radiation.<\/p>\n Dong likened the blood-brain barrier to the border patrol, which stops illegal immigrants from crossing the border. Since drugs to treat brain tumors are viewed as illegal immigrants, she said her research uses legal immigrants (neutrophils) that can smuggle those \u201cillegal\u201d drug molecules past the blood-brain barrier to where they are needed to fight disease.<\/p>\n In her research, she has examined levels of menthol in the urine of smokers of menthol and non-menthol cigarettes. She has also studied how menthol levels affect how the body metabolizes the cancer-causing substances in tobacco.<\/p>\n Science Bites is sponsored by the Graduate Research Student Association (GRSA). The competition is modeled after the Three Minute Thesis (3MT)<\/a> competition held annually at WSU Pullman and elsewhere.<\/p>\n<\/a>The first prize went to Soumyadeep (Sam) Sarkar,<\/strong> who talked about his research on the circadian clock\u2014the 24-hour day-night cycle that regulates different processes in our bodies. Disruption of the circadian clock due to erratic sleep patterns and eating habits have been strongly correlated to different types of ailments, including skin cancer. His dissertation specifically looks at circadian regulation of melanin synthesis, a protective mechanism that produces melanin pigment in skin in response to UV radiation.<\/p>\n<\/a>Second place and audience favorite honors went to Xinyue (Sheena) Dong. <\/strong>She turned her research on the use of a type of white blood cells known as neutrophils to transport drug molecules across the blood-brain barrier into a cross-border, feel-good crime story.<\/p>\n<\/a>Shannon Kozlovich<\/strong> came in third with her talk on how menthol in cigarettes affects cancer risk in smokers. She mentioned the surprising fact that nearly all cigarettes\u2014including those not<\/em> labeled as menthol cigarettes\u2014have menthol in them. She said it is being added to numb smokers\u2019 airways to ease the irritation that comes with smoke inhalation.<\/p>\n