At the Canada-Wide Science Fair in the Life Science category, there is only one gold medal project at the senior level.  And this year that project was done by two young scientists, Haiyu (Mike) Bao and Zichao (Allan) Kang. This has been a busy week for Mike and Allan catching up after the fair which brought them $32,000 in prizes and scholarships. They had exams to write and homework to do. They were featured on Global National this week, and they took the time out to write a guest blog about their experiences and their award winning project.

Mike Bao tells of his experiences:

My experience at the 2009 Canada Wide Science Fair at Winnipeg has truly been great. Winning the gold medal may not even have been the best part, because each of the nine days at the science fair felt like the experience of a lifetime. My team-mates and the delegates were friendly people with great personalities. I felt perfectly assimilated into the group because everyone there belongs to the general scientific community and loves science. Likely agreed by most other participants at the fair, it has been one of the best weeks of my life. This opportunity was my first time, and sadly it would also be my last as I am now concluding my high school career. My only regret is that I had not started participating earlier.

As previously stated, I am graduating high school soon. I will attend the University of Alberta's Honours Physiology program in the Faculty of Science this fall. The fascinating experience of experimentation at Dr. Sujata Persad's laboratory in the Department of Pediatrics for my project has deepened my interest in scientific research, therefore I will look forward to continue on with my current project in the near future and other projects as well in my undergraduate years.

Allan and I were also involved in the Sanofi-Aventis BioTalent Challenge, however we were unable to advance to the nationals. But one thing I noticed is that the Sanofi national competition is only 2 days, much of which is the competition itself, leaving little time to tour the city or get to know the other finalists. Canada Wide Science Fair however, is much longer (nine days). Although that would require more schoolwork missed, it would also provide an opportunity to tour the city and really get to know team-mates and other participants. In my opinion, science fair may be more fun to be involved in.

Allan Kang reports his experiences:

As a first time participant of the Canada-Wide Science Fair, I really did not know what to expect as I got on the plane in Edmonton. As soon as I familiarized myself with my team-mates, it was apparent that this was going to be a remarkable trip. After the trip, I wondered about what made this trip so amazing. After all, the 15 hour days and the 6:30 wake up calls certainly did not make this trip a relaxing vacation. The reason why the week in Winnipeg was one of the best weeks in my life is the company I was constantly around. To share a week with the brightest, most innovative, and most driven youths in all of Canada is truly a highlight in one's life. On top, the friendly atmosphere, the almost parental delegates provide the perfect hospitality after a long day. Even more, the festivities were absolutely indulging. There is no doubt in my mind that I will cherish this memory for as long as I live.

As for the Sanofi-Aventis Biotalent Challenge, it is a slightly different competition. The competition itself is different in that it is alot more restrictive since it only applies to biotechnology. If health sciences and medical ingenuity is your interest, there are no competitions more fitting than SABC. However, if you want to explore all areas of science, the CWSF is a better choice. Also, I find that SABC tends to be more directed towards mentored medical research projects which means that all the projects are very narrow and in-depth in their respective fields. Alot of projects deal with material that is so in-depth and cutting edge that it is almost more theoritical than practical. This is another major difference between SABC and CWSF. Apart from these differences in the nature of the two competitions, they are very similar. The people organizing both are very keen on sparking the scientific growth of youth in Canada. They are both great competitions in triggering interest in science. My experiences with SABC has also been extraordinary. Again, the judges I met, my fellow competitors were all very supportive of me. The competitive yet friendly atmosphere sets the background for some of the most influencial medical discoveries every made by Canadian youth.

Here is an the abstract of the gold medal winning project:

Gold Medal - Life Sciences
Sponsor: Pfizer Canada
Senior
MMM: Manoeuvering Metastatic Melanoma
Mike Bao, Allan Kang – Edmonton AB


Malignant melanoma, or invasive melanoma, is developed in the epithelial layer through mutations in melanocytes, the pigment producing skin cells. The progression of malignant melanoma from healthy melanocytes involve a radial and vertical growth phase as well as metastasis. This is partially attributed to the loss of regulatory adhesion with the surrounding epidermal basal layer keratinocytes. More specifically, it is associated with the suppression of E-cadherin cellular adhesion protein complex. With the onset of malignant melanoma, the expression of E-cadherin is significantly lowered and is replaced by the new cadherin, N-cadherin, which binds to mesenchymal cells that are found in connective tissue. Thus, the fluctuation of the cadherin profiles allow for the melanocytes to lose their adhesive characteristics and migrate down into the endothelial connective tissue thus gaining invasive characteristics. This process is referred to as Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT).

The EMT-like change in melanoma may be due to observed transcriptional repression of E-cadherin by Snail/Twist proteins and the loss of PTEN phosphatase, a negative regulator of the PI-3K anti-apoptotic pathway.

PTEN is also responsible for the removal of phosphate groups from phosphatidyl inositol triphosphate (PIP3). The formation of phosphorylated-AKT is suppressed. This hinders the assembly of downstream enzymes at the plasma membrane necessary for signal transduction. The absence of PTEN allows for the uncontrolled progression of the pathway, increasing cellular levels of phosphorylated-AKT, thus sustaining an anti-apoptotic cellular response. The PI-3K pathway mediates an increase in N-cadherin and a decrease in E-cadherin, thus introducing invasive properties to healthy melanocytes. PTEN expression, controls the extent to which the PI-3K pathway progresses, and thus the expression of E- and N-cadherin profiles.

The general methodology of the investigation can be divided into two components. First, melanoma protein profiles are established by western immunoblotting, to detect the levels of E-cadherin, N-cadherin, AKT, phosphorylated-AKT, Twist, and Snail in progressively invasive melanoma stages. The second fraction features the quantification of E- and N-cadherin in fully metastatic melanoma cell lines after the transfection of PTEN through the techniques of western immunoblotting, immunofluorescence, and real-time polymerase chain reaction.