Watch above: At the Sinofi BioGENEius Competition in Saskatoon this week, students from Grade 8 to 12 showed off their year-long research. Global’s Carly Dionne Robinson reports.
SASKATOON – When you think of scientists researching ways to improve crop production or fighting cancer, you probably wouldn’t picture someone in high school. However, at the Sinofi BioGENEius competition in Saskatoon this week, students from Grade 8 to 12 showed off their year-long research.
Melody Song, 14, is a familiar name this year at the Saskatchewan regional competition. She says her sister, Rui, who “was very successful and very determined and passionate about science,” got her interested as well.
“She kind of got me hooked on science too,” said Song.
Rui Song is now in her second year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and credits her exposure to science to these competitions. She says she is glad to see her younger sister taking on the challenge.
Regional coordinator of the event, Chelsea Abramoff, is there to insure the success of the competition, as well as the students.
“When I come here every year and walk around and listen to some of the things that these students are researching I am absolutely astounded by their brilliance,” said Abramoff.
“They are absolutely geniuses in the making. These will be the future scientists that make important discoveries in the next 20 years.”
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The young scientists say they are all appreciative of what they are able to learn and do for the science community at the event.
“It’s not only about the project that you are doing, but also the skills you are learning in a professional setting,” said Kundapur, who was this year’s winner.
Kundapur has been participating in the competition for six years and won with her research on personalizing medication for cancer therapy. It’s a form of research she says could be the future of cancer treatment.
“Say someone walks into a clinic, gets there DNA sequenced. We find out they are over expressing a certain protein, we give them inhibitors that deal with that, and then we can personally treat that.”
Kundapur will go to the national competition in Ottawa at the end of May, and if she places she will go on to the international competition like Rui Song did in 2010.
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