SABC 2010 Calgary Finals Photo Gallery
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All photos: Emilie van der Hoorn, photographer

Around every nerve cell is a fatty sheath called myelin, which gets damaged by harmful diseases like multiple sclerosis.

Using lasers and sophisticated imaging technology, two 17-year-old Calgary high school students have found a novel way for medical scientists to assess that nerve damage.

Western Canada and Bishop Caroll High School students Nicholas Moore and Debbie Wang discovered a particular dye that brightly illuminates damaged myelin, a discovery that could be used to measure both damage and how well nerve repair strategies are working.

Mentor Dr. Peter Stys of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary says he was “stunned” at how quickly the pair ramped up their science knowledge and began to function at “the level of graduate students” in his neuroscience research lab. “They’ve produced some really useful data.”

Dr Stys calls the SABC a “fantastic opportunity for high school students” and of critical importance because they also get to learn as well from the work other competitors are doing. “It’s also an excellent chance to practice very important communication skills.”

The best part of the competition was being able to “work in a lab and learning about research as a career,” says Debbie. Both she and Nick are entering a bachelor of sciences program next year with the aim of doing further research.

Nicholas Moore and Debbie Wang of Western Canada and Bishop Carroll High Schools won the $2,000 first place prize with a study about “Advanced fluorescence spectroscopy of myelin using novel lipophilic probes”. Dr. Peter Stys of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary mentored this team, throughout their research.
Representing Calgary, Nicholas and Debbie will present their research at the National Competition before a panel of experts at the National Research Council in Ottawa, on April 26, 2010.

2nd Place: Rebecca Todesco and Bernadette Prettegiani representing Queen Elizabeth High School and Webber Academy, won the $1,500 second place prize for a project that examined ‘the effect of Shiitake mushroom extract on the inflammatory response of colon cells’. The team’s mentor were Drs. Morley Hollenberg and Wallace MacNaughotn from Department ofPhysiology and Pharmacology, University of Calgary.

3rd Place: The third place prize of $1,000 was awarded to Sarah Hyslop a grade ten Home School student. Sarah was mentored by Dr. Doug Storey, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, who supported Sarah throughout her innovative project titled: “Antibacterial Properties of Plant Oils.” Sarah also won the $250 prize for the Best Elevator Pitch which emphasized the potential of her research to produce new, natural and safer antibacterial products.

4th Place: $750 was awarded to Esther Lee and Jasmine Park of William Aberhart and Henry Wise Wood High Schools for achieving fourth place. Esther and Jasmine worked on a project entitled: “Using Differential Scanning Fluorimetry to Investigate Enzyme Inhibitors” with the help of their mentor Dr. Roy Gravel, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Calgary.

5th Place: Fifth place prize of $500 was awarded to the team of Pattie Wang and Hamza Riaz of Western Canada High School. Dr. Arvi Rauk, from the Deparment of Chemistry, University of Calgary, mentored Patti and Hamza throughout their challenging computer modeling research titled “Aluminum’s Role in the Brain.”

Most Comercially Viable Award: Congratulations to Kathy Yu from Sir Winston Churchill High School for winning the $250 award for the project with the most commercial potential. Kathy’s project “Activity of Probiotic Bacteria Isolated from Japanese Natto” was mentored by Dr. Michael Surette, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Calgary

Congratulations to our Merit Award winners and Thank you to the Mentors:
Travis Rilea Central Memorial Dr. Jennifer Cobb
Lindsey Logan William Aberhart Drs. Dae-Kyun Ro, Romit Chakrabarty
Runze Yang and James Xu Sir Winston Churchill Dr. Jeff Dunn
Jay Wang Western Canada Dr. Pierre-Yves von der Weid
Kathy Yu Sir Winston Churchill Dr. Michael Surette

Here are some helpful hand outs for oral and poster presentations: please keep in mind you will be giving a 10 minute oral presentation followed by 5 minutes for questions

Some Rules for Oral Presentations

Elevator Pitch Description

Scientifically Speaking

Guidelines and Tips for Scientific Oral Presentations

Elevator Pitch Workshop 2010 – Mr.Keith Scharnau’s presentation

The proposal must be submitted on-line at www.sanofibiotalentchallenge.ca . The proposal must be 1200 words or less and should be in the following format:

Proposal Title: (scientifically informative title)
– The title should touch on what is being accomplished in the investigation and what question is trying to be answered?
Introduction:
– The introduction should include the question you will be asking, why you are asking it and what you expect the answer will be.
-It should also inlcude any pertinent background information on the organism(s) or process(s) that will be investigated.
-This section should not be more than one or two short paragraphs.
Relevant Application:
– Explain how the idea was derived.
– Provide justification as to why your idea is relevant and would be important to investigate.
Experimental Design:
– Include a detailed description of how you plan to execute your project.
– If you are unsure please provide an educated guess based on the research you have done.
Results and Interpretation:
– Please include an explanation of how you plan to analyze and present your results if known.
– Predict what you think you results might be and why.

APPENDICES:
Materials and Methods:
– Please include a detailed explanation of the methods and techniques required for proposed research project if known.
– Please provide a list of materials, instruments and equipment that your school will be able to provide toward this project if necessary.
Timeline of project:
– Please include a brief outline of how you plan to complete your project in time for the competition day in early April.
Mentorship support:
– If you have already sourced out a mentor please include their name and contact information.
– If you have someone in mind who you would like to act as your mentor please inlcude their name, contact information (if known) and how you discovered their work. Your program coordinator will contact them on your behalf.
In any other case please indicate that a mentor is required.

Attention: Donna Parker
BioAlberta
314 Capital Place
9707-110 Street
Edmonton, AB T5K 2L9
Canada

Where do you start?
1. Have an idea of what interests you in the biotechnology field. Spend some time investigating your topic of interest, what questions do you have, what would you like to look into further?

2. Find out what research is being done in Calgary, is there a lab doing research that your idea would fit with? Contact the researcher and let them know what you are doing, what your interests are. Ask them for help, or if they would like to be your mentor for the SABC program. (keep in mind that this is a part time research project that must be finished by early April)

3. Follow the links from the SABC home page for the on line application. There you will find some helpful hints and guidelines as how to write a proposal. Or go to this link -proposal writing tips- Attend our proposal writing clinic.

4. Write and submit your proposal on-line by the dead line.

Check out the following links for further ideas:

Science Buddies
SMARTS
University of Calgary, Departments and Programs
U of C Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
U of C Bioinformatics
U of C Biological Sciences
U of C Veterinary Medicine
U of C Biomedical Engineering
Schulich School of Engineering
Research at Mount Royal University
Sembiosys

SABC 2009 Calgary Finals WINNERS

Annie Wang and Julie Xu of Sir Winston Churchill High School won the $2,000 first place prize with a study about “Co-culture of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Prevotella ssp. In Agar Spheres.” Dr. Mike Surette and Dr. Tyler Field, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary mentored this team, throughout their research. Annie and Julie were also this years recipients of a new $250 cash award for “Best Elevator Pitch”.
Representing Calgary, Annie and Julie will present their research at the National Competition before a panel of experts at the National Research Council in Ottawa, on May 6th.

2nd Place: Nicholas Moore, Annie Khan, and Janelle Yu representing Western Canada High School, won the $1,500 second place prize for a project that examined
“Upregulation of ?-integrin in tubular epithelial to-mesenchymal transition is mediated through the PI3-K-Akt-mTOR pathway”. The team’s mentor was Dr. Wenjie Wang from the Divisions of Nephrology and Transplantation, Department of Medicine, University of Calgary.

3rd Place: The third place prize of $1,000 was awarded to Raida Khwaja and Urvashi Pal from Western Canada High School. These students were mentored by Dr. Dave Hansen, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, who supported this team throughout their innovative project titled: “The Effect of Counteracting Chemicals in Red Bull – Taurine and Niacin – on the pharyngeal pumping of developing Caenorhabditis elegans.”

4th Place: $750 was awarded to Fiona Tran of Central Memorial High School for achieving fourth place. Fiona worked on a project entitled: “Polyinosinic Acid Contributes a Significant Role in the Rate of Eliminating Bacteria by Macophages” with the help of her mentor Dr. Robin Yates, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Calgary. Fiona is the first recipient of a $250 award, newly introduced this year, for having the “Most Commercially Viable Project”.

5th Place: Fifth place prize of $500 was awarded to the team of Rachel Wang and Jenny Gao of William Aberhart High School. Dr. Francine Smith and Dr. Wei Qi Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, mentored Rachel and Jenny throughout their research titled “Age and Region Dependent Expression of Angiotesin II Type I and Type II Receptors in the Sheep Kidney.”

Congratulations to our Merit Award winners: Tracy Wang and Julia Kuo from Western Canada High School, mentored by Dr. Morley Hollenberg and to Sylvia Hao and Yunan Liu from Dr. E.P. Scarlet High School mentored by Dr. Jan van Minnen.

The famous example of Alexander Fleming’s mouldy petri dish teaches us that even a failed experiment has the potential to deliver something new and exciting.

Seventeen-year-old Julie Xu and her friend Annie Wang, 18, will vouch for that following their win in the Calgary regional judging of this year’s Sanofi-Aventis BioTalent Challenge.

For while the two Grade 12 students from Calgary’s Sir Winston Churchill High School failed to prove their initial theory about the bacteria found in the lungs of people suffering from cystic fibrosis (CF), their project did raise the prospect of a better way to treat this incurable, genetically-inherited disease.

Julie and Annie set out to investigate how two very different organisms, Pseudomonas aeruginosa (an aerobic bacterium found in the sputum of 80% of CF patients) and the less common – and anaerobic – Prevotella spp., can live together and interact in the oxygen-rich environment of the CF sufferer’s lungs.

Their hypothesis was that the two bacteria co-exist in spherical particles. As oxygen enters the particle it is consumed by the aerobe, creating an oxygen-free environment in which the aerobe and anaerobe co-exist.

Although the young researchers ultimately were unable to substantiate their hypothesis, their long hours in the laboratory did yield an intriguing result: when P. aeruginosa and Prevotella were co-cultured within the same sphere, P. aeruginosa grew more quickly than when it was cultured alone.

Annie and Julie believe this is an important area for further study that could see the treatment focus shift from the aerobic to the anaerobic organisms in the CF patient’s lungs.

“It may be better to target anaerobic bacteria such as Prevotella,” said Julie. “Then you not only eliminate that species, you also prevent it from enhancing the growth of other species. Prevotella’s ability to degrade antibiotics used to treat CF makes the case even more compelling.”

The SABC success of Annie Wang and Julie Xu proves things that the rewards of research often come from unexpected places.

The pair was inspired to enter the competition by past SABC Calgary region winners from Sir Winston Churchill High School, students at which have now won the top prize in each of the past three years. “They told us what a great experience and how much fun it is to work with a mentor in a lab doing serious research,” says Annie.

Both girls have their sights set on further scientific studies after they graduate high school. Julie will be going to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia; Annie’s university options are still open.