American Psychological Association. (2024, July 23). Inspiring bright minds in neuroscience. https://www.apa.org/news/apa/2024/brain-bee-nextgen-competition-austria
Stanley Zhang is only 17 but he’s already thinking like a neuroscientist. Ever since a friend casually tossed out words like “oligodendrocyte” and “astrocyte” in an online chat a couple of years ago, the high school student has immersed himself in learning about neuroscience through the International Brain Beeopens in new window (IBB), a neuroscience competition that attracts 25,000 students from 40 or more countries each year.
“An exciting thing about neuroscience is that it’s always evolving and we’re always learning and discovering new things,” said Zhang, who lives in Auckland, New Zealand. What excites him even more is that “these learnings can then be applied clinically to make a real difference in people’s lives.”
Recently, Zhang and four other budding scientists from around the world experienced a weeklong deep dive into neuroscience at the FENS (Federation of European Neuroscience Societies) Forum 2024, Europe’s largest neuroscience conference, which took place June 25–29 in Vienna, Austria. As the top finishers of last year’s IBB World Championship, held virtually in conjunction with APA’s 2023 annual convention, the five attended FENSopens in new window as part of IBB NextGen, an inaugural experience encompassing opportunities including research roundtables, interactive activities, presentations, laboratory visits, and opportunities to learn from leading neuroscientists.
APA is a governing partner of the IBB and a NextGen sponsor. Other IBB partners are the Alzheimer’s Association, FENS, the International Brain Research Organization, and the Society for Neuroscience.
“IBB NextGen was created to complement and extend the impact of our virtual World Championship and award the top winners with a unique in-person educational experience,” said APA’s deputy CEO Jaime Diaz-Granados, PhD, who also chairs IBB’s board of directors. “The event is much more than a celebration of academic excellence. It is a platform to promote the importance of science and inspire the next generation of bright minds in the brain sciences.”
Since 1998, tens of thousands of high school students globally have participated in the IBB. The multitiered competition begins each year with Local Brain Bees, whose winners go on to compete in their country’s National Brain Bee. The national winners, in turn, compete in the World Championship, where in 2023 Zhang and Chun Hei Tai (Hong Kong), Kimia Ahmadi (Iran), Julia Nakoneczna (Poland), and Mark Piasecki (Canada) scored highest in four separate tests (written exam, neuroanatomy, neurohistology, and patient diagnosis) along with a live judging session.
For Zhang, who received second place in the 2023 IBB World Championship, highlights of FENS and IBB NextGen included roundtable discussions with world-class neuroscientists and the FENS poster sessions. First-place winner Tai was particularly inspired by a lecture on gene delivery that left him contemplating applications in treatments for neuroimmune disorders. One of Ahmadi’s pinnacle moments was meeting with the founders of the The Alex Manfull Fundopens in new window because it provided “novel insights into interactions between the nervous system and the immune system.” Highlights for Nakoneczna included the roundtables, the plenary lectures, and a visit to the Institute of Science and Technology Austria. Piasecki, who aims to do clinical research on Parkinson’s disease because his father has Parkinson’s, valued being able to ask researchers about their career paths.
The five students—as the 2023 World Champions and the first IBB NextGen participants—are “an important cohort of Brain Bee alumni,” said IBB executive director Astrid Eberhart. More important, she added, IBB NextGen will help more young scientists follow their academic and career paths and directly demonstrate the impact of the Brain Bee initiative.
The 2024 IBB World Championship will be held virtually with Neuroscience 2024, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, from September 27 to October 5. Its winners will participate in the next IBB NextGen, hosted at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Toronto in July 2025.
