Newswise — Future neuroscientists from high schools around the world will be competing in the 11th International Brain Bee championship on Saturday, Aug. 8 in Toronto.
The Brain Bee is a competition on neuroscience knowledge specifically designed for high school students, founded and directed by Norbert Myslinski, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Maryland Dental School.
The purpose of the Brain Bee is to motivate young men and women to study the brain, and to inspire them to consider careers in the basic and clinical neurosciences. It will be held in conjunction with the annual convention of the American Psychological Association. The competition has three tiers or stages: local, national, and international.
Worldwide there are about 75 local competitions, each one involving many schools. The winners of the local competitions then compete in their respective national championships. The national winners then go on to represent their countries in the international championship.
The students are tested on their knowledge of the human brain, including such topics as intelligence, emotions, memory, sleep, vision, hearing, sensation, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, addictions, and brain research. The competition involves oral tests, written tests, a neuroanatomy laboratory exam with human brains, and a patient diagnosis component with student actors.
"We encourage neuroscientists and educators around the world to start a Brain Bee competition in their cities," says Myslinski. " It is easy and fun and the media loves it."
This year, two trial events will be added but not included in the total points in the competition. They are the brain assembly competition sponsored by the educational firm Biovere, and a neurohistology exam, each with a small award to the winners.
Some sample questions in the competition are: What kind of molecules are semaphorin, ephrin, neuropilin and plexin? Sonic hedgehog is important for the development of what part of the nervous system? What is the medical term for when you start dreaming before you fall asleep? Stargazer mice are experimental models for which type of epilepsy?
The winner will receive $3000, a trophy, and the right to represent the Brain Bee around the world. For example, last year's winner, Elena Perry, from Rockville, Md., represented the Brain Bee at receptions at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC and at the Convention of the Society for Neuroscience, also in Washington.
The competing countries, their national coordinators and their representative high school competitors include:
"¢ Australia: coordinator, Linda Richards; competitor, Casey Linton
"¢ India: coordinator, Seema Raghunathan; competitor, Nidhi Ramaraj
"¢ Uganda: coordinator, Sekabira Wilson; competitor, Wampaalu Peter
"¢ Romania: coordinator, Cristian Gurzu; competitor, Smaranda Rosioru
"¢ New Zealand: coordinator, Louise Nicholson; competitor, Stephen Mackereth
"¢ Canada: coordinator Judy Shedden; competitor, Sean Amodeo
"¢ Grenada: coordinator, Francis Fakoya; competitor, Makalani Manwarring
"¢ United States: coordinator, Norbert Myslinski; competitor, Julia Chartove.
Other countries with Brain Bee Coordinators include Austria, China, Egypt, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, and Venezuela. The tentative sites for the next two International Championships, in 2010 and 2011, are India and Italy.
The primary sponsors of the international championship are the Nimmagadda Foundation and the International Brain Research Organization. Visit www.internationalbrainbee.org for more information about the program.
RSS