Her research into the canine urinary biome and her ability to talk about it concisely earned Dr. Emily Coffey a spot in a University of Minnesota (UMN) thesis competition. 

Coffey is a third-year student in the Comparative and Molecular Biosciences PhD program at the College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) and is advised by Dr. Eva Furrow. She represented CVM at the UMN 3-Minute Thesis Competition on Nov. 11, vying against seven other students from colleges across the UMN.  

The competition challenges students to communicate the significance of their research projects in three minutes using jargon-free language and without props to an audience of non-specialists. 

Coffey qualified for the University-level event when she won the St. Paul Science in Seconds competition, held on Oct. 18. Students from CVM, the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, and the College of Biological Sciences participated in the event.

Coffey’s presentation, titled “The Urinary Microbiome & Urinary Stone Disease in Dogs,” focuses on the role the urinary microbiome plays in canine health, including its potential impact on the development of urinary stones and other diseases. Contrary to popular belief, urine is not sterile and the urinary microbiome is home to diverse communities of microorganisms.