If you ever need a good ol’ fashioned slice of humble pie, head to the Sanofi Biogenius Canada national final.
The prestigious annual science competition was held in Ottawa over the past two days. It showcases the very best high school science prodigies in the country. Nine regional finalists gathered to present science projects that involve concepts many would have trouble saying, let alone understanding.
“I'm exploring the development of antibody-scaffolding in membrane- fusion inhibitors for HIV-1 therapy," explains B.C. finalist, Iveta Demirova.
Huh?
Quebec’s Thomas Ribeiro is working on “a novel and industrially-promising photo-methanotrophic bio-filtration unit for the curbing and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions."
Photo-methawhatnow?
Edmonton’s Lucas Penny has pioneered a device to test breast cancer in minutes using a simple saliva test. Ottawa’s Amit Scheer is developing a novel therapeutic vaccination platform that might eventually prevent or even cure all cancers.
Did I mention they are all teenagers?
“I don’t even understand what they’re doing and I’ve got a PHD,” jokes Dr. Thomas Merritt, Canada Research Chair in Genomics and Bioinformatics, Laurentian University, and one of the judges of the competition. “The things that these kids are doing are fantastic.”
That is partly the design of the competition. Sanofi Biogenius Canada actually pairs exceptional young scientists with professional mentors so they can explore and research their ideas in the lab.
The winner of this year’s competition is 16-year-old Iveta Demirova of New Westminster, B.C. for her work on a new HIV treatment. She now advances to the International Biogenius Challenge in San Francisco in June, with still more scientific prodigies from around the world.
Kids today!
