Youth triumphs in Brain Bee battle; Winner headed to Baltimore.

AuthorShekhtman, Lonnie
PositionLocal

Byline: Lonnie Shekhtman

WORCESTER -- If you know what chemical signals can help neurons determine in what direction they have to grow on a developing brain -- and you're a teenager -- you could've won Saturday's Central Massachusetts regional Brain Bee, an annual competition designed to encourage high school students to learn about the brain and to pursue careers in neuroscience.

The real winner, though, 14-year-old Snigdha Allaparthi, answered more questions correctly about the genetics and chemistry of neurological diseases than about 50 competitors from 12 local high schools who participated in Saturday's event at UMass Medical School, sponsored by its Department of Psychiatry.

Ms. Allaparthi, a freshman at Lexington High School, is possibly the youngest winner on record here, according to event organizers.

Clasping her award and flanked by students and parents offering congratulations, and by her mom Sailaja Allaparthi, a UMass Medical School graduate, Ms. Allaparthi explained, "I came for the experience, so no matter what would've happened, I would've been happy.''

But she worked incredibly hard to get here, having spent more than six months studying topics in neuroscience for hours every day.

Ms. Allaparthi was one of 10 finalists -- eight girls and two boys -- who qualified for a final, oral exam by scoring the highest on a written exam earlier in the afternoon. During the written portion, students identified neurological diseases, like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, or schizophrenia, based on interviews with UMass medical residents, who volunteered to act like patients.

The students also identified parts of the brain on a model, and described their function.

Half the finalists hailed from Lexington High School, Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Millbury Memorial Junior/Senior High School, David Prouty High School and...

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