The 18th annual Central Massachusetts Regional Brain Bee will take place on Saturday, March 16, at UMass Chan Medical School.
The competition features local high school students interested in neuroscience answering questions about the nervous system anatomy, function and diseases; and diagnosing several disorders of the nervous system from written descriptions.
Students will be competing for the Andrew Sheridan Young Neuroscientist Award, established by Michael and Shirley Sheridan, in honor of their late son, Andrew, who had a passion for neuroscience. The winner of the award will also receive an all-expense paid trip (including a parent or guardian) to participate in the 2024 USA National Bee at the University of Central Florida in April.
The exam consists of true/false, multiple choice and short-answer questions drawing primarily from a primer on the nervous system, Brain Facts.
The students will take a written exam to test their knowledge and the 10 students with the best scores will compete in the oral rounds of the Brain Bee finals at 3:15 p.m. in the Albert Sherman Center auditorium.
Anastasia Khvorova, PhD, the Remondi Family Chair in Biomedical Research and professor of RNA therapeutics, will deliver the keynote address ahead of the Brain Bee finals.
The competition is free and open to all Central Massachusetts high school students in grades 9 to 12. Registration is open until March 8.
The Brain Bee is sponsored by the Departments of Neurobiology, Neurological Surgery, Neurology, Psychiatry and Radiology and the NeuroNexus Institute at UMass Chan.
