'Brain Bee' draws Long Island, NYC students interested in neuroscience, brain studies
First year medical student and volunteer Varun Sridhar teaches student contestants during the Long Island "Brain Bee" at Hofstra University Saturday. Credit: Morgan Campbell
Matte and beige and intricately folded, human brain tissue from an organ donor sat on a table at the Zucker School of Medicine's Structure Lab. Two medical students handled the specimen with gloved hands as they explained the human brain is developing until age 25 — a milestone just one of them had reached so far.
The interaction was one of many during the lab portion of a Saturday competition held at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. The "Brain Bee" was open to approximately 70 students ages 13 through 19 interested in neuroscience, neuroanatomy and neurology with the goal of potentially becoming a medical doctor or scientist that studies the brain, said co-organizer Vanessa Reddin, PhD, an associate professor of science education at the school.
"I think the most fun is that the students get to come into the lab in the medical school, and actually see the brains of real people, and the different pathologies that might have existed and how everybody's brain looks slightly different," Reddin said.
Student contestants watch a human brain lab demonstration during the competition, which drew around 70 students from Long Island and New York City. Credit: Morgan Campbell
The regional Brain Bee is a scaled-down version of a national and international competition, Reddin said. On Long Island, entrants take two exams: a multiple-choice test on brain facts they have studied, then an exam based on lab demonstrations they saw during the day.
William Kim, 13, of Manhattan, was one of the younger entrants. His curiosity about human anatomy was born the first time he learned about the body, he said.
"I wanted to know how it worked," Kim said. "Like, how do I work? Like, why do I exist? And, what makes me possible?"
Kim said he was particularly interested in the nervous system and wants to become a neurologist someday.
Specimens studied in the Structure Lab are donated through the school's Whole Body Anatomical Gift Program, which gives people the opportunity to donate their bodies for medical education and research, said associate professor and the school's director of structural sciences Robert Hill, PhD.
"It's an unbelievably altruistic gift," Hill said. "It has the potential to touch so many lives — not just the students who learn from those donations, but then they go on to practice health care."
Juliana Nuss, 17, of Holtsville, shared a motivating thought she had while looking at specimens.
"I'm thinking, 'wow,' like, I want to donate my body to science in the future," Nuss said, following lab demonstrations. "I want to be a part of this, I want to help people. I want to help train young people to be able to assess problems and find their solutions."
The regional competition, free to participants, runs with the help of student volunteers from the medical school and undergraduate neuroscience club, Reddin said.
Adam Hong, center, took first place. Lauren Furer, left, and Taniya Raipatriwar took second and third, respectively. Credit: Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
The first-place winner, Adam Hong, a sophomore at Division Avenue High School in Levittown, earned a paid trip to the 2026 USA National Brain Bee Championship at the University of California, Irvine, in April, and a spot in a summer program at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. In second and third place were Lauren Furer, a junior at Wantagh High School, and Taniya Raipatriwar, a junior at Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School, respectively.
"We're just trying to give as many students as we can the opportunity to come and learn a little bit about neuroscience," Reddin said.
Arielle Dollinger joined Newsday as a staff reporter in 2022. Previously, she covered local and national news as a freelancer for The New York Times, Newsday and other outlets.
