What’s the term that describes the specialized type of cell movement responsible for the formation of cortical layers during embryogenesis?
High-schooler Lisa Wei knows.
The Vincent Massey Collegiate student went head to head with other brilliant minds her age at the International Brain Bee world championship last week. The 16-year-old placed second out of 37 competitors from around the world.
RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS
Lisa Wei
To get there, Wei had to win a competition organized by the University of Manitoba, then best 20 competitors at a national tournament in Vancouver — all while studying her high school courses.
“When there’s spare time during class I finish my homework and then study, but school was not a big issue,” Wei told the Free Press Friday.
The acclaimed high school competition is no science fair or spelling bee; students are tested on their knowledge of the brain and advanced neuroscience research. The international competition involves three tests, followed by a live judging session in which 10 finalists answer 25 questions.
Competitors are eliminated if they answer two questions incorrectly, and the last student standing wins.
At the virtual international competition, judges ran out of questions to ask Wei and her competitor, 12-year-old Samuel Richards from Australia. She placed second based on the competition’s point system in which Richards edged her out.
“My parents said it doesn’t matter where I place because I already did so much, and just try to enjoy yourself,” the teen said.
A book about the scaleless, spiky puffer fish that she received as a youngster is what got Wei into science and related topics; she was fascinated by the fish’s defence mechanisms and wanted to learn more.
“The brain is a fascinating organ that still has some problems and mysteries that scientists are still trying to unravel,” she said. “There’s research being done that could reveal what type of problems it could potentially compute… it can shed light on so much.”
Studying for the competition came by way of long summer days reading dense textbooks on neuroscience and topics reserved for post-graduate students, and creating mnemonic devices to help simplify more difficult concepts related to the emotional and cognitive parts of the brain.
If that wasn’t enough, she mixed in a mathematics and computing contest hosted by the University of Waterloo where she earned a medal for her high score.
“It wasn’t too bad, you just do it,” she remarked casually.
Robert Beattie, a professor at the University of Manitoba College of Medicine, and colleague Katinka Stecina organize the local Brain Bee, which is in its 11th year in Winnipeg.
“The questions were really postgraduate level,” Beattie said. “These are questions that even a lot of students in our neuroscience programs would have difficulty with, and even a lot of professors.”
In addition to the competition, the local Brain Bee gives students the opportunity to visit various U of M campuses and meet students and professors who conduct brain research. The federal Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Manitoba Neuroscience Network help to fund the Winnipeg Brain Bee and its workshops.
“We want to try help use this as a platform to have students come into neurosciences, into research, into the medical field,” Beattie said. “The more we get students excited about science, the more of a chance at success we have in addressing really important issues.”
With three championships under her belt, some may ask: is there anything Wei can’t do?
“Spelling,” she joked of the long, academic words often derived from Germanic languages that most people can’t pronounce on their best days.
Wei plans to take the $3,500 in prize money from the national and international competition and store it away while she continues her high school education. While she’s still in Grade 11, Wei is already thinking about her post-secondary studies, likely in a field related to science or health care, and may one day occupy the halls of the U of M’s science department like Beattie and Stecina.
The answer to that skill-testing question is radial migration, by the way.
nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca
Nicole Buffie
Multimedia producer
Nicole Buffie is a multimedia producer who reports for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom in 2023. Read more about Nicole.
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