No-Bell prize finalist puts the fun into Fun-IVCM research

Moments after meeting 2017 Nobel Prize winner Associate Professor Tilman Ruff AO last month, Ching Yi Wu took to the stage herself as the only optometrist to compete in the final of the 2024 No-Bell Prize.

The No-Bell Prize is a competition open to students who are undertaking groundbreaking research and who are passionate about science communication within the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry, and Health Sciences at The University of Melbourne.

The fun side of Fun-IVCM

In the No-Bell Prize final, participants were required to creatively explain their research on stage, then field questions from the audience without using scientific jargon.

Ching Yi presented her innovative research using Functional in vivo confocal microscopy (Fun-IVCM), a recently pioneered new imaging technique by Professor Laura Downie’s laboratory at The University of Melbourne.

Ching Yi explains, ‘Fun-IVCM is the first imaging approach that can be used to view live, moving cells in the cornea, in humans, and is non-invasive. This technique enables us to gain new insights into the behaviours of different types of immune cells at the surface of the eye, and facilitates further investigation of the immune system’s role in the human body, in health and disease.’

At the final, Ching Yi brought her research to life through fun and relatable analogies. She described her Fun-IVCM as her super, trusty, high-definition camera, likened the population of immune cells in the cornea to a party, referred to dendritic cells as gymnasts and T cells as breakdancers. With the Paris Olympics capturing global attention at the time, the topical analogies were a hit!

And the winner is…teamwork!

After listening to the guest of honour at the No-Bell final, Associate Professor Ruff, Ching Yi noted, ‘What was most inspiring was that he humbly acknowledged winning the Nobel Peace Prize was a team effort. He also explained that a lot of collaborations between people from all walks of life are involved in research, so effective and clear communication is extremely important. I have certainly found that to be the case.’

Communication tips

As a finalist, Ching Yi accessed tailored coaching with Emma Donnelly, a science communicator coach, to develop and build her skills in creating compelling research pitches and effectively communicating her work. Emma shared plenty of tips, which Ching Yi says she will be able to use throughout her career. These included techniques such as maintaining flow and varying vocal pitch while presenting; starting with an impactful first sentence to grab the audience’s attention; repeating questions before answering to help remember it and allowing some buffering time to best answer it.

Cookson Scholars Program

Ching Yi is in the final stages of a PhD candidature with the Cookson Scholars Program. Her PhD focusses on how ‘time-of-day’ affects the immune cells in the eyelids, specifically the meibomian glands, and the cornea in mice and humans. As it is a unique joint international PhD training program between the Universities of Melbourne and Manchester, one year of her candidature was undertaken at Eurolens Research in the United Kingdom. During this time, Ching Yi received multiple awards for science communication and was a finalist for the 3-Minute Thesis at both institutions.

Ching Yi is also currently working as a post-doctoral research fellow with Prof Downie, where she will extend the findings from her PhD and investigate the dynamic interactions of corneal immune cells and sensory nerves in living humans, using Fun-IVCM.

The awards keep coming!

Just two days after the No-Bell Prize final, Ching Yi won the 2024 Dorothy Carlborg Cornea and Contact Lens Society of Australia (CCLSA) research award.

‘This will contribute towards a study during my post-doctoral research, also involving Fun-IVCM,’ she said.

‘I am excited about where Fun-IVCM will take us with various conditions and seeing if this can answer the end-of-day contact lens discomfort conundrum.’