Saskatoon student runner up at national bioscience competition

On Tuesday, 17-year-old Rui Song from Walter Murray Collegiate won second place at the National Research Council for the 19th annual Sanofi BioGenius Challenge (SBCC) in Ottawa.

She won $4-thousand for developing new insights into the potential creation of a more nutritious lentil.

Thirteen regional finalist projects’ from across Canada were judged and awarded on Tuesday afternoon.

First place was awarded to 16-year-old Janelle Tam who invented a disease-fighting, anti-aging compound using nano-particles from trees. This grade 12 student at Waterloo Collegiate Institute will accompany Song to represent Canada at the International BioGENEius Challenge in Boston this June.

“Credit goes to all the students and mentors from coast to coast who took part in this year’s event. There is great talent across our country,” said chief judge Luis Barreto.

Song also won first prize at the 2010 SBCC, being the youngest to receive the honour while only in ninth grade.

At 14-years-old, her research found molecular markers that can tell the difference between two closely related types of lentil attacking fungi. This earned her $5-thousand and an honourable mention at the 2010 International BioGENEius Challenge in Chicago.

More than 240 students from high schools and General and Vocational Colleges across Canada submitted 192 projects in this year’s competition.

The Sanofi BioGENEius Challenge Canada is a national, biotechnology research competition which encourages high school students to pursue future studies in Canada’s $86-billion biotechnology industry.