We had a great time at the 2025 Upper Valley Brain Bee Competition!
Thank you so much to all our participants, volunteers, donors, and parents who made this event happen! We'll see you in 2026!
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Congratulations to our 2025 Upper Valley Brain Bee Winner: Reya Satam!
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Here are just a few photos of the day. We'll see you next year for another great competition!
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Our top three 2025 winners. From left to right: Kateryna Horeva (second place), Reya Satam (first place), Meredith Habstritt (third place)
The Keynote
Keynote speaker Dr. Wilder Doucette discusses non-invasive techniques (like EEGs) can be utilized to extract specific and meaningful biomarkers that assist in identifying populations that may better respond to interventions for neuropsychiatric illness.
The Neuroscience Fair!
IND PhD candidate Mizuki Tojo discusses the importance of the zebra-fish model and powerful techniques utilized to visualize axons in the pectoral fins of these fish.
The Human-Human Interaction Kit
Do you think its possible to control someone else's arm? Well Dr. Lucas Dwiel from the Doucette lab is able to utilize important concepts from neuroscience to do just that with the human-human interaction kit!
Neuroanatomy
Dr. Shawn Winters walks students through real-life human and sheep brains. Not only does Dr. Winters go step-by-step through the structures and how best to identify them, but he also discusses their functions and importance within the central nervous system. We try to hold this booth every year for students to learn and prepare for the exam –– both for our chapter's competition all the way to internationals! He offers a rare opportunity for students to gain hands on experience of what a real brain looks like, which has benefited our champions in the past as they continue onto nationals and even internationals! Don't miss his booth!
Worms and Neuroscience?! Huh?!
Did you know that there are a ton of animal models that neuroscientists use to answer the questions about the brain? Yes, even worms are used for this!
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Dr. Kelli Cannon from the Dipon lab at Dartmouth discussing the powerful techniques you can utilize with the model C. Elegans. A worm that is known to have exactly 302 neurons, this simple model can help researchers answer complex questions ranging from what factors impact our development to what genes can impact our behavior with our environment!
Making music with... your muscles!
IND PhD candidate Petra Bachanová, utilizes a neurospiker box to record amplitude of neuron firing in the biceps and translate that into music. Depending on how strong someone flexes their muscle, they will involve a different number of muscle fibers and thus the amplitude will differ. She then maps different amplitudes to different tones and play those in real time using a custom Python script.