On April 25, 26 and 27 Binudith attended the SABC National Finals in Ottawa, accompanied by his teacher and advisor, Kathleen Crang: Fort Richmond Collegiate, and the Manitoba SABC Coordinator Bob Brown.

He enjoyed 3 great days of meeting other young scientists from across Canada, federal politicians such as the Honourable James Flaherty, Minister of Finance, and the Honourable Lisa Raitt, Minister of Labour, and many high ranking researchers and executives. Breakfast at Parliament and a private tour of the Canada Museum of Science and Technology was also provided.

The competition was held April 26 at the National Research Centre on Sussex Drive. Bin was competing with other top students from 14 regions across Canada. His project is called “Association between Genetic Variations in Fatty Acid Desaturase Genes and the Ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3 Fatty Acids in Flax”. This study, with it’s novel approach to flax genetic modification, may have great significance to human health and to Canada’s Agriculture Industry.

Bin “did Manitoba proud” again this year,finishing in the top 5 of 14 competing research projects to continue his great high school science career. Bin’s winnings of $1,000 will help him when he attends the University of Manitoba next year to continue his studies.

Congratulations Bin!

2010 Manitoba Senior Project winner Binudith Warnakulasooriya, Fort Richmond Collegiate, Project: “Genetic Variations in Fatty Acid Denaturase Genes and their Association with the Composition of Essential Omega 3 & 6 Fatty Acids in Flax”. “Bin did it again! He repeats as the SABC Manitoba Senior champ. Bin will compete April 26 & 27 at the SABC Nationals in Ottawa. He placed third at the Nationals last year so he’s a force to be reckoned with!”

Omega 3 and Omega 6 are essential fatty acids in foods that play an important role in growth and development, reproduction, vision and the immune system, including prevention of cancers and heart diseases.

However, modern diets are often too high in Omega 6, which can increase the probability of disease and depression, and too low in Omega 3, creating substantial health issues.

Binudith (Bin) Warnakulasooriya, a 17-year-old Grade 12 student at Fort Richmond Collegiate, Winnipeg, decided to tackle this widespread problem by figuring out how to unlock DNA to produce flaxseed with the healthiest ratio of the Omega fatty acids.

Although flaxseed generally has more Omega 3 than 6, Bin identified many types of flax that have too high a level of Omega 6, making them unsuitable for human consumption since they could lead to chronic diseases.

“My experiment found the right ‘genetic code’ necessary to get a lower Omega 6 and get higher levels of Omega 3 from the flax plant,” he said.

Armed with this genetic secret, plant scientists could develop and commercialize flax types with the optimal Omega 3 / Omega 6 ratio. And it could go a long way towards correcting the dietary imbalance of many people.

It took months of 2.5 hour lab sessions daily to make this breakthrough, so the big challenge for this busy high school student, simultaneously involved in athletics and other extracurricular work, was time management.

After five years of science competition (he placed third in last year’s SABC national final), Bin says he was surprised at how “smart and complicated” projects have become. “The competition increases every year.”

Bin, who plans a career in molecular genetics or medicine, says a major lesson for him this year was “how organized you have to be to achieve anything.”

2010 Manitoba Senior Project winner Binudith Warnakulasooriya, Fort Richmond Collegiate, Project: “Genetic Variations in Fatty Acid Denaturase Genes and their Association with the Composition of Essential Omega 3 & 6 Fatty Acids in Flax”. “Bin did it again! He repeats as the SABC Manitoba Senior champ. Bin will compete April 26 & 27 at the SABC Nationals in Ottawa. He placed third at the Nationals last year so he’s a force to be reckoned with!”

The 2010 Manitoba competition was held April 7th at the beautiful St Boniface Hospital Research Centre, (SBRC) which generously hosted this year’s event. Many thanks to the SBRC and in particular Bill Peters; Manager of Communications and Media Services and his colleague Rob Blaich who snapped great photos of each contestant.

The competition judging was in the afternoon from 1:00 to 3:30. It was a big event with 68 projects to be judged. Of the projects, there were 20 Senior, or Open projects; 29 Intermediate(Gr 9&10); and 18 Junior projects from Grades 5 to 8.

To judge all these projects we needed a lot of Judges! Fifty eight researchers and educators volunteered to do the judging and did a great job of it. In each of our three categories the judging is always difficult because the quality of the projects is so high. It was tough to decide on who should be the top projects. Nonetheless, our judges did come up with “best of the best” projects for each category.

Our 2010 Awards Dinner was held at the Canada Inns hotel in Fort Garry in the evening after the competition. About 175 attended including students, teachers, mentors, parents and dignitaries. There were speeches; informative, funny, thoughtful, and in my case just plain goofy! Many thanks to our keynote speaker Lyle Merrell a biotech investor and executive who filled us in on the realities of the ‘business end of science’.

Twenty five great projects were awarded prizes, with the Senior winner eligible to travel all expenses paid to Ottawa April 25 to 27 to compete at the SABC National competition. These winners included:

Senior Projects
1. Binudith Warnakulasooriya, Fort Richmond Collegiate, Teacher Advisor Kathleen Crang
“Genetic Variations in Fatty Acid Denaturase Genes and their Association with the Composition of Essential Omega 3 & 6 Fatty Acids in Flax”
Mentors: Sylvie J Cloutier and Véronique J. Barthet

2. Ryan Murphy, Fort Richmond Collegiate
“Cardioprotective Effects of Manitoba Grown Purple Garlic”
Mentor: Thomas Netticadan SBRC

3. Xichie Yang, Kelvin High School: Teacher Advisor Donna Labun
“SRAP Expression in Human Breast Cancer Cells”
Mentor: Etienne Leygue

4. Alyssa Verrelli, St Maryès Academy: Teacher Advisor Michelle Klus
“Expression of NOX-2 and NOX-4″
Mentor: Paul Fernyhough SBRC

5. Uliana Kovaltchouk, Sisler High School: Teacher Advisors John Kozelko,Lorne Richards
“Molecular Insights on DNA Uptake and Transit Pathways in Saccharomyces cerevisiae”
Mentor: Dan Geitz U of M

Intermediate (Gr 9&10)
1. Ella Thomson, “Direct Fermentation of Waste Cellulosics for Biofuels Production Using Clostridium Thermocellum”
Mentor: David Levin, Balmoral Hall School, Teacher Advisor: Connie Shyka

2. Allen Liu, “The Effects of the Canola Genes, SHOOTMERISTEMLESS (STM) and CLAVATA 1 (CLV) on Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) explants during shoot organogenesis via Phytohormone usage of Auxin (2, 4-D) and Cytokinin”
Mentors: Claudio Stassola, Yaping Wang, Acadia Junior High

3. Sandy Lee, “The Claudin 1 Type Junction Protein Exhibits Different Expression in Different Breast Cancer Subtypes”
Mentor: Yvonne Myal, St Mary’s Academy, Teacher Advisor Michelle Klus

4. Rajas Tipnis & Tony Zhou, “Expression of Bnip3 After Doxorubicin Treatment”
Mentor: Lorrie Kirshenbaum, Ft. Richmond Collegiate, Teacher Advisor Kathleen Crang

5. Andrew Lee & Hongru Ren, “FAME Production in Canola and Soybean, Press Meals using In Situ Transesterification”
Mentors: Veronique Barthet, Jim Daun, Acadia Junior High School, Teacher Advisors Jared Thorlakson and Mike Sarkany

Junior Gr 7&8
1. Manjot Singh Sainbhi, “What are the Effects of C. Thermocellum Bacterial Growth on Alpha Cellulose and Cellobiose?”
Mentor:David Levin U of M

2. Matthew Levesque, “Integrin Expression by Oligodendrocytes”
Mentor: Emma Frost U od M

3. Yu Jin Lee, “Does Cooking Food Affect the Content of Omega-3 and Omega-6 Fats”
Arthur A Leach School, Mentor: Miyoung Suh

4. Alexander Motnenko, “Teeth Bones and Water”
Laidlaw School, Teacher Advisor: Patrick Dunlop, Mentor: Irena Motnenko Avalon Institute

5. Atoosa Jalayeri, “Which Oil is More Efficiently Used by the Liver?”
Arthur A Leach School, Teacher Advisor: Mary-Ann Fast, Mentor: Carla Taylor U of Man

Junior Gr 5 & 6
All top projects this year are from Angus McKay School: Teacher Advisor Michelle Lee
1. Autumn Napoakesik and Colin Schroeder, “Pathogens in Fish”
2. Tim Loewen and Jennifer Kent, “Creating a Manitoba Bio Product – Saskatoon Berries, the New Antioxidant Pill”
3. Liam Gerus and Owen Ready, “No Butts About It – Cigarettes Are the New Bacteria Stick”
4. Braeden McMullin and Christopher Hastie, “Is the taste of soda pop affected by the shape of the glass used?”
5. Zachary Fincaryl and Dylan Novicki, “Are You Sipping More Than Just Your Soda? The Truth Bacteria on Soda Can Tops”

We are trying to develop an SABC alumni club so that we can keep communication lines open among former SABC competitors and to help us to all keep in touch. There is also a National SABC Facebook website which we hope many will join.

I’m looking forward to seeing many of the SABC08 students back next fall with all the enthusiasm for science which they always show. We’ll miss those of you who have graduated from High School (and the SABC) but hope you keep in touch.
Bob Brown Science Advisor / Coordinator; SABC Manitoba

Fort Richmond Collegiate: 13 Students, 9 Projects, Teacher Advisor: Kathleen Crang

1. Aimee Bell and Kate Gong “Dietary Exposure of Juvenile Brown Trout to Brominated Flame Retardant. Bioaccumulation Parameters and Effect on Sex Hormones” Mentor: Greg Tomy
2. Binudith Warnakulasooriya “Genetic Variations in Fatty Acid Denaturase Genes and their Association with the Composition of Essential Omega 3 & 6 Fatty Acids in Flax” Mentors: Sylvie J Cloutier and Véronique J. Barthet
3. George Ng, Suraj Srinivasan, Guangzhe Weng “Inhibition of the Claudin 1 tight junction protein in breast cancer: a microarray analysis of the alterations in global gene expression” Mentor: Yvonne Myal
4. Ming Munikar “Natural Wastewater Treatment for a cold Climate” Mentors: David Prystupa, Chong Zhang
5. Min Joo Lee “Treatment of Alzheimer’s disease by finding out the inhibitor of AChE in green tea” Mentor: Rotimi Aluko
6. Neilloy Roy “Protein Binding to Double Stranded RNA in the Crimean Congo Fever Virus” Mentor: Sean McKenna
7. Ryan Murphy “Cardioprotective Effects of Manitoba Grown Purple Garlic” Mentor: Gary Fulcher
8. Uma Yakandawala “TBD” Mentor: Emma Frost
9. Seiwan Park and Jenny Du “Inductive of an EAE Animal Model with MC”

Gordon Bell High School: 2 Students, 1 Project, Teacher Advisors: Mabini Pagtakhan, Mohammad Rezai, Sean Friesen

1. Julius Lu and David Chau “The Effects of Black Raspberries on Leukemia Cells” Mentor: Leon Espiro

Grant Park High School: 2 Students, 2 Projects, Teacher Advisors: Michael Kattenfeld, Michael Patenaude

1. Ali Almalaki “Signaling Pathways ” Mentor: Aaron Marshall
2. Michael Teichman “TBD” Mentor: David Eisenstat

Kelvin High School: 1 Student, 1 Project, Teacher Advisor: Donna Labun

1. Xichi Yang “SRAP Expression in Human Breast Cancer Cells” Mentor: Etienne Leygue

Murdoch McKay Collegiate: 1 Student, 1 Project, Teacher Advisor: Wes Warren

1. StevenKuzyk “TBD” Mentor: TBD

St Boniface Diocesan: 2 Students, 2 Projects, Teacher Advisors: Paul Grossman,Stev Boyko

1. Emanuelito Tomas “The Effects of E coli on Psoriasin (S100A7) in Breast Cancer” Mentor: Jeff Wigle
2. Lea Soliman “TBD” Mentor: Mohammed Moghadasian

St Mary’s Academy: 2 Students, 2 Projects, Teacher Advisor: Michelle Klus

1. Alyssa Verrelli “TBD” Mentor: Paul Fernyhough
2. Camille Glidden “Mechanisms of Insulin Resistance in Adult Rats Exposed to Maternal Undernutrition, In Utero” Mentor: Pram Tappia

Shaftesbury High School: 5 Students, 3 Projects, Teacher Advisor: Kim Stovel

1. Barbora Latova and Elisia Jones “Fat Content of Meat” Mentor: TBD
2. Chris Kraljevik “Determining Climate Change-Induced Effects on Red River Streamflow Using Hydrologic Isotopes Found in Water and Tree Ring Samples.” Mentors: Tricia Stadnyk Bill Buhey
3. Mariana Munoz-Gomez and Solana Johannson “Effectiveness of SPF in Moisturizing Products” Mentor: Dana Schroeder

Sisler High School: 1 Students, 1 Project, Teacher Advisors: John Kozelko, Lorne Richards

1. Uliana Kovaltchouk “TBD” Mentor: Dan Geitz

Vincent Massey Collegiate: 1 Students, 1 Project, Teacher Advisor: Sheri Pelletier

1. Kieran Hendrickson-Gracie “The Effect of Chemical Compounds on the Spread of Breast Cancer Cells” Mentor: Jiuyong Xie

Summary: 30 Students, 23 Projects

2009
SABC09 Manitoba: Senior Projects by Schools
SABC09 Manitoba: Intermediate Projects by Schools
SABC09 Manitoba: Junior Projects by Schools

Research on Flax Phytoestrogens Wins Grade 11 City Student Binudith Warnakulasooria Entry to National Biotech Competition

Outstanding research by a 16 year-old Winnipeg student at Fort Richmond Collegiate that could lead to improved health benefits from this common crop has earned the first place prize in the 2009 Sanofi-Aventis BioTalent Challenge (SABC) in the Manitoba region.

Grade 11 student Binudith Warnakulasooria won the $2000 cash prize with a study into important health chemicals produced by Flax and will travel to Ottawa to compete in the national SABC competition May 5, to be judged by a panel of experts at the National Research Council. The national winners will be announced at a ceremony in Ottawa on May 6.

He worked on genes in the common Flax plant which produce “lignans”, (nutritional chemicals found in flax that can have major health benefits for humans) The object of his research is to “find out the flax genes responsible for producing lignans and use that to figure out the optimal genetic set up to produce the highest level of lignans in flax.” He hopes that the “data gathered from my experiment could be used to genetically engineer flax plants that produce higher lignans here in the prairies.”

Cash prizes were also awarded to:

2nd place; $1500 to Juliet Daet of St Mary’s Academy in Winnipeg for her project examining biochemical means of fighting breast cancer.

3rd place : $1000 for Beth Ferreira of Fort Richmond Collegiate in Fort Garry. Beth’s project continues her ground-breaking work in studying pollution levels in arctic seals through chemically analysing their claws.

4th place $750 awarded to Alyssa Verrelli from St Mary’s Academy for her research in diabetes. Alyssa looked at how nerve cells of diabetics may lose their ability to take in the hormone Insulin.

and

5th place : $500 to Ryan Murphy from Fort Richmond Collegiate for his continuing research into the many potential benefits of Manitoba-grown garlic.

At the regional announcement ceremony, Dr Francis Amara warned the students to never think that their research is the most important. He emphasized that science is a collaborative endeavor, and each new truth adds to the collective knowledge of all of us. and can lead us in unexpected and exiting new directions.

Encouraged by his teacher Kathy Crang, and under the guidance of mentors Sylvie Cloutier of the Agriculture Canada Cereal Grains Research Centre, and Veronique Barthet of the Canadian Grain Commission

“The Manitoba government is a strong supporter of encouraging more students to consider careers in biotechnology,” said Magda Byma of Manitoba Science, Technology, Energy and Mines.

Winnipeg Student wins Ottawa Bronze at National Biotechnology Science Event!

SABC09 Manitoba Binudith Warnakulasooriya Project Abstract

“The primary and most abundant lignin found in Linum usitatis-simium is Secoisolariciresinol,which acts as an antibiotic.,antioxidant ans cholesterol controlling agent.Secoisolariciresinol is synthesized through pinoresinol-lariciresinolreductase enzyme.

Two isoforms of this gene were isolated and cloned using the Bacterial Artificial Chromosome Library of flax M5791accession. The isoforms were 91%similar to each other in the amino acid level. Five major single nucleotide polymorphisms were identified in a flax world collection of 92 accessions. SDG levels were measured in the 10 accessions with different PL reductase haplotypes. Significant changes in SDG content were observed.”

Binudith Warnakulasooriya, a grade 11 student at Fort Richmond Collegiate in Winnipeg captured Bronze at the Sanofi-Aventis BioTalent Challenge (SABC) held in Ottawa this week.

In a field of prominent student scientists from 14 regions from all across Canada Binudith placed third overall with his research into “Lignan,” a little known flax nutrient which may offer signifigant human health benefits. As Bin says, “Canada produces 40% of the worlds flax so any thing that can increase the value of the flax is good for human health and good for the agriculture business.

Bin discovered a previously undescribed flax gene which helps produce the important Lignin chemicals in the flax. He hopes that his or others’research may someday lead to Varieties of Canadian flax that will produce a much higher % of lignan per bushel.

Research on Flax Phytoestrogens Wins Grade 11 City Student Binudith Warnakulasooria Entry to National Biotech Competition

Outstanding research by a 16 year-old Winnipeg student at Fort Richmond Collegiate that could lead to improved health benefits from this common crop has earned the first place prize in the 2009 Sanofi-Aventis BioTalent Challenge (SABC) in the Manitoba region.

Grade 11 student Binudith Warnakulasooria won the $2000 cash prize with a study into important health chemicals produced by Flax and will travel to Ottawa to compete in the national SABC competition May 5, to be judged by a panel of experts at the National Research Council. The national winners will be announced at a ceremony in Ottawa on May 6.

He worked on genes in the common Flax plant which produce “lignans”, (nutritional chemicals found in flax that can have major health benefits for humans) The object of his research is to “find out the flax genes responsible for producing lignans and use that to figure out the optimal genetic set up to produce the highest level of lignans in flax.” He hopes that the “data gathered from my experiment could be used to genetically engineer flax plants that produce higher lignans here in the prairies.”

Cash prizes were also awarded to:

2nd place; $1500 to Juliet Daet of St Mary’s Academy in Winnipeg for her project examining biochemical means of fighting breast cancer.

3rd place : $1000 for Beth Ferreira of Fort Richmond Collegiate in Fort Garry. Beth’s project continues her ground-breaking work in studying pollution levels in arctic seals through chemically analysing their claws.

4th place $750 awarded to Alyssa Verrelli from St Mary’s Academy for her research in diabetes. Alyssa looked at how nerve cells of diabetics may lose their ability to take in the hormone Insulin.

and

5th place : $500 to Ryan Murphy from Fort Richmond Collegiate for his continuing research into the many potential benefits of Manitoba-grown garlic.

At the regional announcement ceremony, Dr Francis Amara warned the students to never think that their research is the most important. He emphasized that science is a collaborative endeavor, and each new truth adds to the collective knowledge of all of us. and can lead us in unexpected and exiting new directions.

Encouraged by his teacher Kathy Crang, and under the guidance of mentors Sylvie Cloutier of the Agriculture Canada Cereal Grains Research Centre, and Veronique Barthet of the Canadian Grain Commission

“The Manitoba government is a strong supporter of encouraging more students to consider careers in biotechnology,” said Magda Byma of Manitoba Science, Technology, Energy and Mines.

2008
Manitoba Senior Projects 2008
Manitoba Intermediate Projects 2008
SABC08 Manitoba Regional Competition

1st Place: Beth Ferreira, Fort Richmond Collegiate, Phoca hispida: Feeding Ecology and Contaminant Uptake: Insights from Elemental Analyses of Claws; Mentor: Steve Ferguson