Winnie Xu’s science project is taking her across the country.
The Elgin Park Secondary student will be heading to Canada’s capital after impressing judges of the Sanofi Biogenius Canada competition at the University of B.C. last week.
Xu was honoured for her research project, Role of Podocalyxin in the Maintenance of the Blood Brain Barrier, which was supported by mentor and UBC professor Dr. Michael Hughes.
Winners of nine regional SBC competitions will compete in Ottawa, May 8-10. The competitors have a chance to win $5,000 and a place at the 2017 International BioGENEius Challenge in San Diego next June.
Xu said her project examines how the blood brain barrier is regulated.
“This is an extremely important area of research because a lot of pharmaceutical companies make drugs that cannot be delivered into the brain and therefor renders many diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s incurable,” Xu told Peace Arch News Thursday.
Xu said she’s looking forward to competing in Ottawa but isn’t stressed about winning.
“I don’t really mind the outcome. It’s just an honour to be there, to be interacting with all these amazing scientists who are my age, all across Canada. I think that’s something very special that you don’t get every day, especially at school when not everybody is interested and not everyone can help you grow in the same way.”
The Grade 12 student isn’t sure what career path she wants to take, but expressed an interest in synthetic biology and biotechnology.
The SBC competition was the second time her project received the nod from a panel of judges this month. She was also one of four Peninsula students who placed at the 11th annual South Fraser Regional Science Fair.
More than 120 students in Grades 7-12 from 35 schools presented 85 projects at Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Surrey campus April 7-8.
Semiahmoo Secondary’s Charles Wang and Elgin Park’s Spencer Zezulka jointly received recognition for their project Solar-Powered Production of Clean Fuel through the Fermentation of Clostridium acetobutylicum, and Elgin Park Secondary’s Jenny Mei received honours for her project, Preventing Eutrophication: Excess Phosphorus Management through Reactive Filtration.