The doctoral thesis that won the Capes Award for Doctoral Theses in the field of materials research was also winner of a Grand Capes Award. The thesis was defended in 2014 by Edroaldo Lummertz da Rocha to obtain the doctoral degree in Materials Science and Engineering from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC). The award was delivered in a ceremony, in December 10th at Capes central office, in Brasília.
The Grand Award selects the best thesis of each of the three major evaluation areas of Capes, which is the government agency linked to the Brazilian Ministry of Education in charge of promoting high standards for post-graduate courses in Brazil. To run for the Grand Award, the authors of winners theses in the Capes Award must present a video lesson of 20 to 30 minutes, destined to high school students, approaching the thesis theme in a proper way to the target audience.
In his video, Edroaldo presents the contributions of his doctorate research to the development of nanostructures that, introduced in the human body, would have therapeutically effects against cancer and, at the same time, would generate less collateral effect than the methods currently used (surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy). To present these contributions, the video explains concepts such as cancer and bionanotecnology. The video also presents the development of CellNet software, in which Edroaldo participated during his doctorate, which helps in the investigation of transformation of cells from a type to another (for example, stem-cell in other cells or skin cells in heart cells). See here the video lesson prepared by Edroaldo and also the videos of the other candidates to the Grand Award.