The ultimate exercise in brevity, the “Ma thèse en 180 secondes” (My Thesis in 180 Seconds) contest brings together doctoral students from various Canadian universities. The challenge: to present your thesis research in 180 seconds, in French, and in an interesting and exciting way in order to win over the jury.

Sami Hached, a doctoral student in electrical engineering at Polytechnique under the direction of Professor Mohamad Sawan, was the grand winner at the national final on May 14, earning both the first place jury prize and the ICI EXPLORA public choice prize for his thesis.

The members of the jury were:

- Pierre-Luc Desgagné, Vice-President, Public and Government Affairs, at Hydro-Québec, and Jury Chair;

- Renaldo Battista, Scientific Director, Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Santé;

- Valérie Borde, science journalist with L'Actualité magazine;

- Alain d'Astous, Professor and Director of the PhD program at HEC Montréal;

- Charles Despins, President and CEO of Prompt Inc. and a member of the Acfas Board of Directors.

Sami Hached's project: “Artificial sphincter controlled and powered with wireless energy,” under the direction of Mohamad Sawan, Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering

The AMS 800® implantable artificial urethral sphincter is currently the gold standard for treating severe urinary incontinence. Although it is based on a simple principle and has high levels of satisfaction, the AMS 800 has some limitations. For example, implanting the device in women is more difficult, the pressure it exerts on the urethra cannot be altered after implantation, and use of the pump requires a certain dexterity that the elderly, ill or disabled may not have. To eliminate these limitations and make life easier for patients, Mr. Hached began designing a new “intelligent” artificial sphincter, one that would be capable of altering the pressure exerted on the urethra to ensure continence while also protecting the patient's organs. Equipped with built-in electronics to communicate, this new sphincter can even connect to a smartphone. Urologists will be able to control the physical size of the system's components, something that is not currently possible. To date, experiments performed on fresh bladders are encouraging and in- vivo tests will take place soon.

International final
The contest is also taking place across the Atlantic, with “Ma thèse en 180 secondes” national finals held in Belgium (May 22, 2014), Morocco (May 27, 2014) and France (June 10, 2014). The three jury prize winners from each of the finals will be invited to participate in the international final, which will take place for the first time in Montréal, on September 25, 2014, at the Cœur des sciences, UQÀM's science and cultural centre.

You can also vote for Sami Hached in the “La thèse coup de cœur des curieux de nature” contest, on the ICI EXPLORA website.

Our heartiest congratulations and best of luck for the next step!

See also:
Sami Hached's performance: Here
The Acfas “Ma thèse en 180 secondes” website