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Ground-breaking research by three Grade 12 students from St. Elizabeth Catholic High School has earned the first place prize in the 2009 Sanofi-Aventis BioTalent Challenge (SABC) in the Greater Toronto region.
Alessandro Caroti, Ellie Shuo Jin, and Hans Tee won the $2,500 cash prize and will share a $2,500 scholarship to either the University of Toronto, York University or Ryerson University. Alternatively, each member of the winning team is entitled to a full first year tuition entrance scholarship to Seneca College.

The team will travel to Ottawa to compete in the national SABC competition May 5, at the National Research Council headquarters to be judged by a panel of experts. The national winners will be announced at a ceremony in Ottawa on May 6. The students’ research demonstrated that high frequency ultrasound could be used to test the effectiveness of a cancer therapy drug by detecting cell death in leukemia cells. This would be a relatively quick, non-invasive diagnostic technique enabling doctors to alter the drug type and/or concentration to provide more effective treatment and minimize side effects.
Encouraged by Philip Sax and Mrs. Seham Grove and under the guidance of mentors, Dr.Greg Czarnota, Dr. Joydeep Chaudhuri, Ms Lilian Doss, Mr. Mike Papanicolau of the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, the first place team’s project was inspired by personal connections with the field of oncology. As he announced the first place team, Mark Lievonen, president of sanofi pasteur, thanked all of the students for their hard work and the high level of research they had taken on. “I hope the program has been a great learning experience for you,” Lievonen told the students. “Enjoy the networking side of biotech tonight as you get to know future colleagues and employers.” Cash prizes were also awarded:

2nd place ($2,000):
Giulia Pizzuto, Amanda Carroccia, Giordana Cortese, Maurice Pasternak St. Elizabeth Catholic High School. This project involved the genetic analysis of strains of flu that were prevalent in 2008 and how they were related to drug resistance. These observations could be used to predict areas within the viral genome that provide a greater ability of a virus to be resistant to the anti-viral drug, oseltamivir.

Supervising Teacher: Mr. Philip Sax
Mentors: Dr. Ron Low, Dr. Stephen Drews, Jennifer Guthrie and AliReza Eshaghi,
Ontario Public Health Laboratories.

3rd place ($1,500):
Juliana Xie, Earl Haig Secondary School, North York
Juliana’s research investigated ways of using sediment microbial fuel cells to treat organic waste and produce electricity as a byproduct. This technology has the potential to provide a clean source of energy from waste products. The highlight of this project was the simplicity of the materials needed to make the fuel cell.

In addition, a $1000 award was presented to Juliana Xie, for the project found by the judges to have the greatest potential for commercialization.
Supervising Teacher: Ms Sheila Wang
Mentors: Dr. Krishna Mahadevan and Mr. Nick Bourdakos, the University of Toronto

4th place ($1,250):
Fiona Haxho, Northern Secondary School, Toronto
This project investigated the role of two special proteins in kidney development and how they interact with one another. This work related to common human renal disorders and is important in determining the process of proper kidney development.
Supervising Teacher: Dr. Danielle Gauci
Mentor: Dr. Jason Cain, The Hospital for Sick Children

5th place ($1,000):
Iman Ashali, Jonathan Boss and Ashley Di Meo,
St. Joan of Arc Catholic Secondary School, Mississauga,
The project researched of the potential effects of using an obsolete pharmaceutical drug in the treatment of cancer. The research showed that this drug affected the ability of a
wide variety of cancerous cells to divide and has potential to be a candidate for future clinical trials.
Supervising Teacher: Mr. Glen Kim
Mentors: Dr. Aaron Schimmer, Ms. Rose Hurren

As well, $500 in cash was awarded to the highest-scoring team from a new school in the competition.
The award went to Tessa Karunakaran, l’école secondaire catholique Monseigneur-de-Charbonnel, Thornhill. Her project involved the investigation of epinephrine, a hormone produced during stress on angiogenesis, which is the growth of new blood vessels from pre-existing ones.
Supervising Teacher: Mr. A. Ritchie
Mentors: Dr. Daniel Dumont, Dr. Shahrzad Jalali, Dr. Steven Chen
Many of the students found that the competition provided them with invaluable
experience:
“It was a great experience to work in a professional level research lab and it allowed me to learn a great deal on how the research experimental process works.” “I believe that the SABC prepares me well for science in university” “It was a great experience to have the opportunity to work with such amazing mentors and to participate among many other youth that shared the same passion Background.

Now in its 16th year, the Sanofi-Aventis BioTalent Challenge is a high-level competition that introduces students to the real world of biotechnology by carrying out research projects of their own design. An SABC program has been held in the Greater Toronto area since 1993-94). The competition mirrors the real world of scientific research by:

• Requiring students to submit research proposals for evaluation by a scientific
evaluation committee;
• Providing up to $200 in advance funding to approved student projects;
• Assigning mentors to each team to provide expert advice and access to equipment and supplies; and
• Having each student project judged by fellow students (peer review) and by
judges representing government, business, academia and the education
community.

Follow-up studies have found that many of the students who compete go on to careers in biotechnology, healthcare, agriculture, and the environment.
More than 100 organizations Canada-wide are partnered in this educational outreach initiative.

Regional competition sponsors:
• University of Toronto,
• York University,
• Ryerson University,
• Seneca College,
• The Biotechnology Initiative
• MaRS

The SABC programs in Toronto, southwestern Ontario and eastern Ontario also receive financial support from the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation through its Youth Science and Technology Outreach Program. National competition supporters:

• Sanofi pasteur
• BioTalent Canada
• National Research Council of Canada
• Genome Canada
• Canadian Institutes for Health Research
• the Canada Foundation for Innovation; and
• the Canadian Louis Pasteur Foundation
The project is funded in part by the Government of Canada's Sector Council
Program.


About Sanofi Pasteur Limited and sanofi-aventis
Sanofi Pasteur Limited is the vaccines business of the sanofi-aventis Group, the third largest pharmaceutical company in the world. Sanofi Pasteur Limited has a long history of supporting science education at the post-secondary level. In 1994, it recognized the need to engage younger students in biotechnology education, and the initial SABC program was run in conjunction with the Biotechnology Industry Organization’s first meeting in Canada. Since then, the program has expanded to 14 events across Canada and has involved thousands of students. As lead sponsor of the SABC, Sanofi Pasteur is proud to collaborate with partners in government, industry and academia to get high school students engaged in biotechnology. Sanofi Pasteur Limited is Canada’s only fullscale vaccine company, researching, developing and manufacturing in Canada a broad range of human vaccines. With over 1,000 highly-skilled employees, it is one of Canada’s oldest and largest biotech companies. For more information: www.sanofipasteur.ca

About BioTalent Canada
BioTalent Canada helps Canada’s bio-economy industry thrive globally. As a non profit national organization of innovators leading our bio-economy, BioTalent Canada anticipates needs and creates new opportunities, delivering human resources tools, information and skills development to ensure the industry has access to job-ready people. BioTalent Canada is a Canadian sector council—one of many partnership organizations created to address skills-development issues in key sectors of the economy. For more information: www.biotalent.ca or Colette Rivet, Executive Director, BioTalent Canada 613-235-1402 x 226; coletter@biotalent.ca

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