USA Student Wins World Neuroscience Competition
Future neuroscientists from 25 countries around the world met in Washington, DC this week to compete in the nineteenth World Brain Bee Championship. The Brain Bee is a neuroscience competition for young students, 13 to 19 years of age. It was hosted by the American Psychological Association.
The International Brain Bee President and Founder is Dr. Norbert Myslinski (nmyslinski@umaryland.edu) of The University of Maryland Dental School, Department of Neural and Pain Sciences. Its purpose is to motivate young men and women to study the brain, and to inspire them to enter careers in the basic and clinical neurosciences. We need bright young men and women to help treat and find cures for the 1000 neurological and psychological disorders around the world. The Brain Bee “Builds Better Brains to Fight Brain Disorders.”
The 2017 World Brain Bee Champion is Sojas Wagle, a sophomore from Har-Ber High School inArkansas, USA.
Sojas has a breath taking history of accomplishments. He is the captain of his school’s Quiz BowlTeam, and was state MVP for the last two years. He placed third in the National Geographic Bee in2015. Last year, he was chosen for “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” Whiz Kids Edition. By the end ofthe game show, he had won $250,000, and later donated some of his winnings to his school districtand a children’s hospital. He is also a member of the Arkansas Philharmonic Youth Orchestra wherehe plays violin as first chair.
Second Place went to Milena Malcharek of August Witkowski High School in Cracow, Poland.Third Place went to Elwin Raj A/L P. Raj Vethamuthu from Sbpi Gopeng High School inMalaysia. Germany and Israel tied for fourth place, and Iran came in fifth. Sixth thru tenth places went to Grenada, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Korea.
While in the US, twelve DC Ambassadors invited their respective national champions to visit their embassies to be honored, including India, Kenya, Egypt, Ukraine, Korea, Israel, Italy, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Australia, Poland and Germany. The Brain Bee involves more than knowledge; it involves relationships. It is an instrument of peace. The friendships and mutual respect developed during the Brain Bee will last a lifetime.
The following are some edited comments from the competitors after the competition:
Korea: I became a global person, more confident, and more comfortable interacting with diverse people.
Australia: The Brain Bee has been one of the best experiences of my life.
United States: It made me more passionate about neuroscience.
Romania: I found out that this is what I want to do.
Singapore: It gave me a deeper interest in the everlasting enigmas in the vast field of neuroscience.
Italy: It gave me the ambition to work hard to find a place among the proud and satisfied neuroscientists that I met at the Brain Bee.
Germany: The IBB absolutely confirmed my plan of study. It not only opened doors to my mind, but I am sure it will open doors to my chosen university.
Ukraine: The Brain Bee showed me the magnificence and importance of neuroscience. It connected me with international people with the same interests as me, like neurons connect with each other.
Malaysia: I am now motivated to make a change in the lives of people with brain disorders.
The Brain Bee competition has three tiers. Worldwide there are about 200 local Chapter competitions, each one involving many schools. The winners of those then compete in their respective Regional (National) championships. The Regional winners then go on to represent theircountries in the World Championship. They 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, a neuroanatomy laboratory exam with real human brains, a neurohistology test, and a patient diagnosis component with patient actors. Sample questions include: 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.
Official List of 2017 World Brain Bee Competitor InformationPrepared by Dr. Norbert Myslinski, Founder and World-Wide Director
| Region | Name |
| Australia | Risini Gamage |
| Brazil | Hellen Valério Chaves Moura de Souza |
| Canada | Prerana Keerthi |
| China | Yixian Fu |
| Egypt | Mai Abdellatif Mahmoud Ismail |
| Germany | Julius Böhme |
| Grenada | Leondre Joseph |
| India | Rutvik Savaliya |
| Iran | Parsa Pat |
| Israel | Shira Ben Ami |
| Italy | Bianca Slivinschi |
| Japan | Yu Fujimura |
| Kenya | Ashley Mwikali |
| Korea | Soyeon Shim |
| Macau | Lei Hei Chit |
| Malaysia | Elwin Raj A/L Raj Vethamuthu |
| Nepal | Utsab Oli |
| New Zealand | Stefan Ivanov |
| Nigeria | Chizitere Uche |
| Poland | Milena Malcharek |
| Romania | Anca Mihaela Vasilica |
| Singapore | Isaac Chan Xu Rui |
| Ukraine | Anastasiia Tsymbaliuk |
| United Arab Emirates | Kartik Goyal |
| United States | Sojas Wagle |
Judges included Dr. Ingrid Tulloch from Stevenson University, Dr. Paul Aravich from Eastern Virginia Medical School, and Dr. Scott Moffat from Georgia Institute of Technology. Co-Coordinators included Dr. Mike Gavini; Ricky Lim and Angela Choi from the University of Maryland; Soren Christensen from Thomas Jefferson High School; and Alexander Skvortsoy and Nicholas Chrapliwy of the International Youth Neuroscience Association. Additional sponsors included the American Society for Neurochemistry and the Society for Neuroscience.
Next year, the World Brain Bee Championship will be in Berlin, Germany hosted by theFederation of European Neuroscience Societies. Dr. Myslinski encourages leaders around the world to start a Brain Bee competition in their cities. It is easy and fun and the media loves it.
For more information contact one of the following:
Patricia Fanning, Sr. Media Relations Specialist; 410-706-7946; 443-615-5811 (cell); pfanning@umaryland.edu Holly Selby, Media Relations Specialist; 410-706-7554; 410-804-2497 (cell); hselby@umaryland.edu
Norbert Myslinski, Founder and World Director; 410-274-4998 (Cell); nmyslinski@umaryland.eduOR your Regional (National) Coordinator listed below.
Official List of The Brain Bee Regional Coordinator’s E-mailsPrepared by Dr. Norbert Myslinski, Founder and World-Wide CoordinatorJuly 1, 2017
| # | Region | Coordinator | |
| 1 | Argentina | Cecilia Bouzat | inbouzat@criba.edu.ar |
| 2 | Australia | Ramesh Rajan | ramesh.rajan@monash.edu |
| 3 | Bangladesh | Muhammad Shahdaat Bin Sayeed | shahdaat.du.001@gmail.com |
| 4 | Belgium | Julie Maetens | jmaetens@ ulb.ac.be |
| 5 | Brazil | Alfred Sholl-Franco | asholl@ biof.ufrj.br |
| 6 | Cameroon | Elisabeth Ngo Bum | eli_bum@yahoo.fr |
| 7 | Canada | Judy Shedden | shedden@mcmaster.ca |
| 8 | China | Jiangjie (Jason) Yu | yjiangjie@gmail.com |
| 9 | Costa Rica | Georgina Grillo | grillogeorgina@gmail.com |
| 1 0 | Czech Republic | Tomas Hromadka | tomas.hromadka@ gmail.com |
| 1 1 | Denmark | Nynne Afzelius | nynne@sciencetalenter.dk |
| 1 2 | Ecuador | Carlos Huerta | carlosehuerta@gmail.com |
| 1 3 | Egypt | Moataz Ibrahim Assem | alexneurocom@gmail.com |
| 1 4 | England | Martyna Petrulyté | m.petrulyte.14@aberdeen.ac.uk |
| 1 5 | France | Helen Sahin Connelly | giftedinfrance@gmail.com |
| 1 6 | Germany | Ina Simeonova | simeonova@management.dno-ev.de |
| 1 8 | Grenada | Gail Blackette | gail.blackette@yahoo.com |
| 1 9 | Hong Kong | Stephanie Auyeung | Stephanie.Auyeung@ inet.polyu.edu.hk |
| 2 0 | India | RMV Ravindranadh R V | ravirmv@gmail.com |
| 2 1 | Iran | Abbas Haghparast | Haghparast@ sbmu.ac.ir |
| 2 2 | Ireland | John Kelly | john.kelly@nuigalway.ie |
| 2 3 | Israel | Illana Gozes | igozes@post.tau.ac.il |
| 2 4 | Italy | P. Paolo Battaglini | battagli@units.it |
| 2 5 | Japan | Tetsu Okumura | tetsuok-tmdu@ umin.ac.jp |
| 2 6 | Jordan | Raeda Tamimi | raedatamimi@ yahoo.com |
| 2 7 | Kenya | Meggie Mwoka | meggiemwokz@gmail.com |
| 2 8 | Korea South | Seong-Whan Lee | sw.lee@korea.ac.kr |
| 2 9 | Lithuania | Paulius Alaburda | alaburdapaulius@gmail.com |
| 3 0 | Macau | Thomas Lao | thomaslao@ gmail.com |
| 3 1 | Macedonia | Elena Grncharevska | e.grncharevska@gmail.com |
| 3 2 | Malaysia | Jafri Malin Abdullah; | brainsciences@ gmail.com |
| 3 3 | Mexico | Eric Murillo-Rodriguez | eric.murillo@anahuac.mx |
| 3 4 | Nepal | Sarun Koirala | poksun@rediffmail.com |
| 3 5 | New Zealand | Maurice Curtis | m.curtis@auckland.ac.nz |
| 3 6 | Nigeria | Polycarp Nwoha | polycarpnwoha@yahoo.com |
| 3 7 | Philippines | Homer Villa | Homer.villa@yahoo.com |
| 3 8 | Poland | Elzbieta Malgorzata Pyza | elzbieta.pyza@uj.edu.pl |
| 3 9 | Portugal | Cláudia Cavadas | ccavadas@gmail.com |
| 4 0 | Spain | Joyse Medeiros | joysemedeiros.ufrn@gmail.com |
| 4 1 | Qatar | Ghina Mostapha Taouk | gt1106590@qu.edu.qa |
| 4 2 | Romania | Cristian Gurzu | cristian.gurzu@yahoo.com |
| 4 3 | Russia | Anna Volnova | anna_neuro@yahoo.com |
| 4 4 | Saudi Arabia | Rasheed Alameer | alameer.rasheed@gmail.com |
| 4 5 | Scotland | Janice Barr | janice.barr@roslin.ed.ac.uk |
| 4 6 | Sierra Leone | Farmanga Ngobeh | farmanga@aol.com |
| 4 7 | Singapore | S ThameenDheen | thameem_dheen@nuhs.edu.sg |
| 4 8 | South Africa | Ernest Mahlaba | ernest.tumelo@yahoo.com |
| 4 9 | Slovakia | Tomas Hromadka | tomas.hromadka@gmail.com |
| 5 1 | Tanzania | Rashid Moussa | chldy98@yahoo.com |
| 5 2 | Turkey | Ferhan Esen | fesen@ogu.edu.tr |
| 5 4 | Ukraine | Andrii Cherninskyi | blacknick@blacknick.info |
| 5 5 | United Arab Emirates | Sathy Parvathy | sathyparvathy@gmail.com |
| 5 6 | United States | Norbert Myslinski | nmyslinski@umaryland.edu |
| 5 7 | Venezuela | Gladys Maestre | gladysmaestre@gmail.com |
| 5 8 | Wales | Vanessa Davies | daviesvj@Cardiff.ac.uk |
Amy Bopp, Sign Language Program Coordinator
Amy’s Desk Videophone: 443-955-5544
abopp@hasa.org www.hasa.org
Source: https://thebrainbee.org/media/IBB-2017-Press-Rel.pdf
