Jericho HS student competes in International Brain Bee

Entering her senior year in high school, Yvette Leung was looking for something interesting to do. That's when her science research teacher at Jericho High School told her about something called the Brain Bee, a competition testing knowledge of neuroscience.

"I thought this was a cool thing to do senior year," Leung said.

Leung, 17, of Brookville, went on to win the regional and national titles in the Bee and last weekend represented the United States in the 12th annual International Brain Bee in San Diego. She finished third.

"It was an unexpected and crazy journey," said Leung, who graduated in June with a 4.0 GPA, one of seven valedictorians at Jericho.

The Brain Bee, brainchild of University of Maryland neuroscience professor Norbert Myslinski, aims to motivate students to study the brain and to pursue careers in biomedical brain research, according to the International Brain Bee website.

"Dr. Myslinski always says that the brain is the real final frontier, and he's right," Leung said. "The brain is so interesting, but it's complicated and there is much we don't know about it."

Winning the national competition in Baltimore led to her competing against winners from Italy, Australia, India, Canada, Grenada, South Korea and New Zealand.

"All the international competitors were so incredibly prepared," said Leung. "The Brain Bee took a lot of work. In high school, you do not learn about the brain to the extent required for the competition. It was a great challenge."

Leung, who has also competed in spelling and geography bees, says the Brain Bee is "so much more in depth" than other bees.

"Not only do you need to know neuroscience facts, but also you have to correctly diagnose patient actors with various diseases," Leung said. "It was like you were an actual doctor."

The 2010 international competition involved five parts with a maximum score of 100, testing students on human neuroanatomy, neurohistology, patient diagnosis and more.

"Competing against such great people from all over the world who share a common knowledge was really cool," Leung said.

In the end, India's competitor came in first and New Zealand was second. "We were kind of battling it out," said Leung, who said she was not disappointed with third place and her $1,000 prize. "I was really happy to represent the U.S." she said. "I never expected to be there."

Leung will attend Harvard in the fall and plans to major in chemical-physical biology or neurobiology.

"The competition has definitely sparked my interest in neurobiology," Leung said. "The brain is the most crucial thing in our lives. The fact that we don't know much about it is kind of sad. I want to contribute to expanding our knowledge of the brain."