2021 Competitors

Ahmed likes to be called Adam. He is 17 years old and studying at Al-Irsyad Islamic School in Malaysia. He has a lot of hobbies, including but not limited to: reading, drawing portraits of people and playing the violin. Since he was a kid, his sister (who was studying biology at the time in university) would use him as an audience to talk about what she recently learned; it was her study method to consolidate information better. He never retained much information, but some concepts did stick; to this day, he still remembers her lesson on mitosis, and how confused he felt! That early exposure inspired him because he realized how beautifully intricate the universe works beyond what we can perceive. This is why he aspires to be a scientist.

Viktoriia is an 11 th grade student at School №125 in Kyiv. During the middle school years, she participated in olympiads on different subjects, being quite successful in many of them. Kyiv City Biology Olympiad in 2019 had a great impact on Viktoriia and served as a starting point for her path of exploration of biology. Since then, biology has become the leading area of her interests, being the science Viktoriia wants to be involved in later in her life. The Brain Bee Competition motivated her to study neuroscience. It is a great pleasure for her to learn about the brain – such an elaborate, delicate and complex structure that it is hard to believe it could ever exist. In her free time, Viktoriia enjoys playing with her rats and reading.

Antoni Klonowski is a fifteen-year-old, tenth-grade student at Vincent Massey High School in Brandon, Manitoba, where he is most interested in studying chemistry and biology. Learning about the nervous system allows him to dive deep into the world of medicine, and these experiences will certainly aid him as he aspires to become a neurosurgeon in the future – after he graduates from high school. He desires to aid people with different neurological problems by using all that he learns to leave a positive impact on the world. Antoni enjoys productively spending his spare time reading and educating himself on various new topics (primarily within mathematics, science, and history), practicing classical guitar, running, playing badminton and table tennis, and listening to classical music.

Kaléo Gabaldi Ferreira is a 12th year student at Colégio Ilimit Educacional.  Since he was younger, the student had a great fascination for mathematics and biology.  However, in the last few years, Kaléo was able to discover Neurosciences through the Brazilian Brain Bee and became passionate by this subject. In his view, everything related to the nature and human behavior (including human history) can be explained from a neuropsychological analysis. In his free time, Kaléo enjoys listening to music, playing games and watching series. In the future, Kaléo intends to research and teach about the correlation between the human mind and the science of the brain, as well as promote the Neurosciences. He feels extremely happy to be able to participate in an event that contains participants from all over the world, as well as hopes to learn a lot from the entire International Brain Bee.

Lila became intrigued by biology a few years ago, thanks to her biology professor and decided to pursue the medicine career.

Her plans for the future are finishing the career in order to become a neurosurgeon.

Antoni Klonowski is a fifteen-year-old, tenth-grade student at Vincent Massey High School in Brandon, Manitoba, where he is most interested in studying chemistry and biology. Learning about the nervous system allows him to dive deep into the world of medicine, and these experiences will certainly aid him as he aspires to become a neurosurgeon in the future – after he graduates from high school. He desires to aid people with different neurological problems by using all that he learns to leave a positive impact on the world. Antoni enjoys productively spending his spare time reading and educating himself on various new topics (primarily within mathematics, science, and history), practicing classical guitar, running, playing badminton and table tennis, and listening to classical music.

Catalina Jara is a 10th-year student at Altazor School in Santiago, Chile. During her whole life, she has been interested in learning more than taught so from a young age she has participated in PENTA UC. This is a program where students can have different courses every semester in one of the most prestigious universities in Chile. This has really impacted her school life since she has been able to move from different areas, including philosophy, chemistry, languages, art, medicine, and biology where she finally found her interests in the last two. From there she hasn´t stopped. Catalina has taken many extracurricular courses, programs, and competitions, including areas like neurosurgery, math, English, and engineering. She likes to spend her free time with her two dogs “Cacho” and “Lady”, talking with her friends and reading. Another crucial part of Catalina´s life is her sister, Victoria, who is currently a medical student. Her sister’s help, advice, and support throughout this process have been priceless to Catalina. She hopes to follow her big sister’s steps and become a doctor and her neuroscience knowledge has only brought her closer to her goal.

Besides neurosciences, Ian is interested in sports and technology. He is a basketball player and a gym enthusiast, and loves to play videogames in his free time. Also, Ian believes that the International Brain Bee is an opportunity to enter the neurosciences world, and a great opportunity to meet people that have the same interests as him.

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Paula Šego is a 18-year-old Croatian student attending the XV. Gymnasium. She has always been interested in science, but she chose to study neuroscience after she watched the movie ‘Transcendence’ for the first time. That’s when she realized that research on the brain might lead to amazing new discoveries and inventions. She is planning to study cognitive science and AI. Although her main interest is studying the brain, she is also interested in philosophy, physics, mathematics and coding. She would like to create a video game in which she could express her creativity and ideas. Eventually, she hopes to make an interface through which humans could interact with AI-s that are based on brain research. Outside of academics, Paula enjoys gymnastics, art, traveling and writing.

Bishoy Kamel is a senior student attending Pioneers Olympic School in Alexandria, Egypt. He always ranks top of his class. He has always been passionate about neuroscience since he was 10. He takes the brain as the most complex thing, not in the body but the whole universe. He aspires to be a neurosurgeon or a neuro researcher. He also wants to find effective treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. Besides reading about neuroscience, he loves reading about physics and cosmology. In his leisure time, he enjoys reading, writing short stories and listening to classical music. He has won in reading competitions such as the Arab Reading Challenge; moreover, he has a short story published in a book. He is both honoured and proud to represent Egypt at the International Brain Bee 2021 and looking forward to meeting all his fellow students from all over the world.

Matsuko is a sixth form student at InterHigh School. She is hoping to pursue further study in a STEM field, and eventually find an academic niche she could dedicate herself to. In her quest to find a specialty, she has had the chance to meet some truly inspiring scientists who have shared the wonders of their research with her. Her neuroscience “awakening” occurred as a result of meeting Benjamin Prud’homme, a biologist she greatly admires who specialized in evolutionary developmental biology (Evo-Devo). He explained that in his field, and in the broader study of biology, neuroscience was becoming more and more relevant in our understanding of evolution — particularly in the diversification of behavioral characteristics across species. As Matsuko had always been interested in evolution and the mechanisms that have led to the diversity between species as well as within one, neuroscience naturally piqued her interest. The France Brain Bee was a great opportunity to familiarize herself with this exciting field, and she is honored to now participate in the International Brain Bee alongside students from all around the world!

Jona David Schulz-Oster has recently graduated from Gymnasium Blankenese high school in Hamburg, Germany. He is keen to learn about the world from different perspectives. This has led to a wide variety of interests from science to music composition, cinematography to maths and geography, and politics to history. His participation in the National Brain Bee has strongly intensified his interest in human cognition. Before applying for medicine next year, Jona David is studying a semester of philosophy to grant him another exciting perspective on human cognition and plans on doing an EU-volunteer service. He aspires to help the people around him as a neurologist both in research and with patients. In his leisure time, Jona David likes to play in his football team with his friends, playing the piano and sharing memes. He feels honored and excited about representing his country and meeting many students at the International Brain Bee 2021.

Jaden Stanislaus is 16 years of age and he attends Hillsborough Secondary School in the beautiful and tranquil Tri-island state of Carriacou. He enjoys playing a leadership role in his community, by being an assistant tennis coach to help propel many young talents to greatness and by umpiring matches for the local tennis tournaments. Although he does not know what exactly he wants to be in the future, one of his goals in life is to own multiple investments such as properties and a tennis court facility, since there is not a single tennis court on the island. Growing up he was always intrigued to learn about the brain since he was always told he had a big head which made him believe he had a big brain. Brain Bee has not only taught him about the brain, but also about the rest of the body and how the organs, glands and muscles all come together with the brain to make sense of everything around us and to ensure that we have a proper functioning body. In his spare time he enjoys playing tennis, watching movies and watching football, and connecting with his family from all over the world.

Anson is a 17-year-old student at St. Paul’s Co-educational College in Hong Kong. He is particularly interested in the gap between theoretical neuroscience and practical applications. He has worked in labs on clinical genomics, microbiology and interventional neuroscience, which has made him appreciate the many perspectives in science. As a firm believer in collaboration, he has organized a multinational student medical society with 8 schools and 12 governmental educational departments worldwide. He is looking forward to learning from his talented peers at the International Brain Bee.

Hasti Fakhri is an 11th grade student at Farzanegan 1. She has been fascinated by biology since she was in elementary school and from that time, she thought that the brain was the most mysterious part of biology. She was introduced to the brain bee when she saw its poster on her school announcement board. During participating in the brain bee competition, her interest in neuroscience has become even more than it was. She also loves math, and she enjoys the new viewpoint that math offers to the world of experimental science. Hasti loves ballad and folk music. She practices archery and practice playing guitar in her free time.

Nayuta Mizuguchi is a 17-year-old high school student at Eiko Gakuen High School in Japan. Initially, his interest in neuroscience stemmed from the desire to learn AI technology, which is related to his strong passion for building a neurotechnological startup in the future. As he learned more about the world of neuroscience, he was overwhelmed by both that magnificent complexity of the nervous system and its wide relationships with a variety of fields such as politics or economics. He is a member of debating club and tennis club at school, and he has recently won the third prize in the national essay contest in his country. In addition to science, he is an enthusiastic pianist and has a special passion for composing his own music and sharing it with his friends. In his spare time, he loves reading Japanese classic books and taking a comfortable time with his lovely dog in the sofa.

Only recently, after changing to boarding school one year ago, has she begun participating in science competitions which have brought her a lot of enrichment opportunities and, above all, the important chance to meet others sharing her interest and engagement in science (the former, eventually, skyrocketed), encouraging her to dream of a career in scientific research. Apart from this, she also enjoys classical literature, music and kickboxing. She is rather surprised to have ended up making it to the international level of the Brain Bee and regards this as another invaluable possibility to broaden her horizon.

Edgaras Zaboras is a 19-year-old currently studying medicine at Vilnius University in Lithuania. His aspiration for science began when he started looking into the reasons behind schizophrenia, a common disorder that affects so many people. The biological machinery that he began to investigate captivated him and ultimately neuroscience became the subject he desires to pursue as a researcher in the future. In his free time, Edgaras likes to go on a long run as he is training for a half-marathon. Additionally, he enjoys traveling and experiencing new cultures because geography is also one of his hobbies. He is very fond of languages, at the moment he is learning French, Italian and Russian. Edgaras is honoured that he is representing Lithuania at this competition and hopes that this gained valuable experience will help him on his path to making progress in science one day.

Yasmin is participating in the International Brain Bee Competition for the first time after winning the national competition in 2021. She loves to read and watch movies in her free time. She also enjoys visiting the beach and places of greenery. She loves to write poems as a way of expressing herself. Generally, she is an outgoing person who loves having productive conversations with anyone she comes across. She aspires to be a medical doctor in the future.

Sap Tou Lao is a 17-year-old student at Pui Ching Middle School Macau. Sap Tou Lao has always been intrigued in the field of Biology and Chemistry and has been dedicated to helping others through harnessing science knowledge he learnt at school. At the age of 15, he has started doing cancer-related research at the University of Macau as a researcher. In these 3 years of working in the lab, he has come up with three different research topics regarding effective ways to deliver drugs into cancer cells. In the future, he plans to study medicine to further pursue his dream of comforting the needy. Besides devoting his time to doing research and studying neuroscience, he also likes spending time fencing. Having a brother being the Brain Bee representative of Macau in 2016, Sap Tou Lao often shared his neuroscience knowledge with him. Sap Tou Lao is looking forward to participating in IBB and hopes to exchange groundbreaking insights with students around the world.

Ahmed likes to be called Adam. He is 17 years old and studying at Al-Irsyad Islamic School in Malaysia. He has a lot of hobbies, including but not limited to: reading, drawing portraits of people and playing the violin. Since he was a kid, his sister (who was studying biology at the time in university) would use him as an audience to talk about what she recently learned; it was her study method to consolidate information better. He never retained much information, but some concepts did stick; to this day, he still remembers her lesson on mitosis, and how confused he felt! That early exposure inspired him because he realized how beautifully intricate the universe works beyond what we can perceive. This is why he aspires to be a scientist.

Katinka is an 18 years old student of Psychobiology at the University of Amsterdam. Her favorite subject was always biology. She always had a special interest in neurology. That only increased even more after her favorite aunt died of an aggressive brain tumor. Motivated and inspired by her, Katinka won the Dutch Brain Olympiade in January 2021. She started volunteering at the Amsterdam UMC University Hospital two years ago. She spends a few hours there every week, working side by side with doctors and nurses. Her dream is becoming a neurosurgeon or a neurologist, anything as long as it starts with “neuro”.

Patryk Wekwejt is a 17-year-old high school student attending Joseph Bem High School in Ostroleka. He has been interested in neuroscience, neurodegenerative diseases in particular, for several years. His curiosity in this area was ignited by the piles of books on neurology and neuroscience lying by the bed and his time spent at the neurology ward. Besides winning the 2021 Polish Brain Bee, Patryk is a Polish National Biology Olympiad Finalist and British Biology Olympiad Gold Medalist. The popularization of science is an indispensable feature of his persona; he is a TEDx organizer and founder of the Biology Society and IYNA chapter in Ostroleka. He is working on a research project on the role of alpha-MSH in Alzheimer’s Disease, which got accreditation to the final of the nationwide Explory competition and was presented at the London International Youth Science Forum 2021. Besides studying amygdala visualized by MRI scans, Patryk admires interacting with one’s limbic system through saxophone tunes. In his free time, he also takes good care of his motor cortex by practicing karate.

Diana Alesandra Marinescu is a senior student at Saint Sava National College in Bucharest. She is especially interested in neuroscience, art, and people. Her favorite topic in neuroscience is neurophysiology, the painting that intrigues her most is “The Persistence of Memory” by Salvador Dalí and treasures open-minded people which seem curious when she starts a conversation about one of the topics above. Participating in the International Brain Bee competition, Diana realized that she would like to pursue a medical career and further engage in research to advance dementia treatment. She believes that the only way to alleviate pain is curing and this motivates her to attend medical school and become a physician.

Olivia believes that the International Brain Bee competition is an opportunity to learn more about the nervous system and could be the first step to a career as a researcher in the neuroscience field. She is very grateful for this opportunity and aspires to one day make a notable contribution to neuroscience.

Kharun Aslan recently graduated from Lyceum-Boarding school No.2 in Kazan, Tatarstan. He placed 3rd in the Russian National Biology Olympiad and since then became passionate about neuroscience and behavioral science. Not only does Kharun like theoretical aspects of neuroanatomy and clinical neurology, but he considers practical approach as the necessity in neurobiology. This dual vision of neuroscience study led him to the desire of becoming a neurosurgeon in the future. He firmly believes that the medical side of neurobiology is one of the most important, however, as with all aspects of natural science, there should be endless researches of the new approaches and methods of the treatment of neurological disorders. Thus, Kharun feels it is crucial to have basic laboratory and experimental skills.

Olivia believes that the International Brain Bee competition is an opportunity to learn more about the nervous system and could be the first step to a career as a researcher in the neuroscience field. She is very grateful for this opportunity and aspires to one day make a notable contribution to neuroscience.

17 year old, Melissa Anastasia Mills is a 2nd year Natural Science student at the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College in St. Kitts. Throughout her academic life, she has always held a stellar record and maintained a position on honor roll every term. She currently studies 5 subjects at A levels where Biology is her most favored. During high school, Melissa had always gravitated towards Biology, however, it was only in her fourth year of high school when she discovered the world of Psychology and Neuroscience. Her interest for this field deepened, resulting in her expanding her knowledge in this area. She began studying subjects like Chemistry and Human and Social Biology. This further inspired Melissa to pursue a career in Medicine. Her fascination with Neuroscience led to her Biology teacher introducing her to the prospect of the 1st National Brain Bee in her island. Additionally, Melissa has received scholastic awards and recognition during her high school graduation for her excellent performance in the area of science. Melissa is not only passionate about the sciences but also about the creative arts. She has had a profound love for the arts since childhood. Outside of school she spends her time dancing, drawing, painting or even listening to some of her favorite music artists. Melissa likes to think that the arts can play hand in hand with sciences. She continues to be a diligent and creative individual and is excited to dive deeper into the world of Neuroscience.

Yoona Kim is an 11th-grade student at Gyeonggi Science High School for the Gifted. Being passionate on biology, she hopes to become a neuroscientist. Her final dream is to discover novel therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. Currently, she has deep interest in genetics and synthetic biology and at school, she has conducted a research about creating a new antimicrobial peptide. In her free time, Yoona enjoys reading novels, especially mystery novels that focus on complicated minds of people. Participating in International Brain Bee as a representative of South Korea, Yoona is both honored and enthusiastic to have a chance to communicate with fellow students who are also interested in neuroscience.

Rhian Dowding is a Scottish 2nd year medical student at Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland. Rhian’s interest in neuroscience started when she was attending lectures and doing work experience placements in preparation to apply to study medicine. Her biology teacher encouraged her to take part in the Brain Bee, and things took off from there. Working as a carer got Rhian interested in neurodegenerative disorders, as well as giving her an honest appreciation for the humble wet wipe. Her interests include gardening, cooking, and pretty much anything that gets her away from her computer screen. Rhian’s hopes for the future to center around good folk, good food, and a steady supply of tea. She’s looking forward to meeting other students from around the world, and she’s proud to be representing the UK this year with Timothy Lee.

Viktoriia is an 11 th grade student at School №125 in Kyiv. During the middle school years, she participated in olympiads on different subjects, being quite successful in many of them. Kyiv City Biology Olympiad in 2019 had a great impact on Viktoriia and served as a starting point for her path of exploration of biology. Since then, biology has become the leading area of her interests, being the science Viktoriia wants to be involved in later in her life. The Brain Bee Competition motivated her to study neuroscience. It is a great pleasure for her to learn about the brain – such an elaborate, delicate and complex structure that it is hard to believe it could ever exist. In her free time, Viktoriia enjoys playing with her rats and reading.

Yashwanth Gokarakonda is a 12th grade student at Little Rock Central High School in the United States. His interests include neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, and economics. In addition to competing in the Brain Bee, Yash enjoys leading the LRCH Ethics Bowl Team and participating in Science Quiz Bowl. He is passionate about neuroscience because of its wide-reaching potential in today’s society and the countless applications that are yet to be explored. Outside of school, he actively volunteers at a hospital laboratory, participates in neurological research, and helps his community as an Eagle Scout. In his free time, he enjoys playing tennis and raising awareness for strokes through his nonprofit, Students Against Stroke. In the future, Yash hopes to obtain a neuroscience degree and enter the medical field. He has thoroughly enjoyed participating in the Brain Bee over the past three years and looks forward to using the knowledge he obtained to help individuals suffering from neurological problems.