Pharmacy Postdoc Wins First Place in Postdoc Slam
Pharmacy Postdoc Wins First Place in Postdoc Slam
Overview
Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences postdoctoral scholar Atreya Dey, PhD, recalled mischievously unraveling his grandmother’s knitting yarn as a child — then paralleled the anecdote to the six-foot strand of DNA that exists in every cell.
Atreya Dey, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar in the UCSF School of Pharmacy’s Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, took first place at UCSF’s 2025 Postdoc Slam by likening condensin proteins to “100,000 grandmas in my cells, protecting me from cancer.”
Speaking to a live and virtual audience of nearly 600 people, Dey used humor and storytelling to explain his research on how DNA strands fold inside every human cell — a process that, if disrupted, can lead to diseases such as cancer and Down syndrome.
Mentored by faculty members Andrej Sali, PhD, and Ignacia Echeverria Riesco, PhD, Dey’s team developed computational models to better understand the role of condensin, a protein that keeps DNA strands properly packaged during cell division, safeguarding against genomic chaos. This framework provides a critical foundation for future therapies aimed at correcting chromosome misfolding in disease.
Dey’s presentation earned him first prize among the 10 postdoctoral finalists competing for the top prize of $4,000. Finalists were limited to three-minute presentations of their research.
Read the complete story and watch the video: How 100,000 Grandmas Fight Cancer in Every Human Cell