Biology Olympiad winners experience the complexity of life

Winning a Science Olympiad comes with some perks. You get a shiny medal and a trip to an international contest. However, the adventure doesn’t have to end there. Apart from staying in touch with your Olympiad by volunteering, you might enjoy other opportunities. 

One example is the LS2 annual meeting, where the network Life Sciences Switzerland invites Biology Olympiad winners to experience a scientific conference.

A presentation at the LS2 annual meeting.

“One of our aims as a society is to promote and connect young scientists early in their careers. We have a whole range of opportunities for PhD-level scientists, like travel grants”, explains Lalita Oparija-Rogenmozere from LS2. “However, the decision was made to reach out to potential future scientists as well, by offering school students, who have won Life Science related prizes on the national level, to attend our largest meeting.” 

Leora, Raphael, Nayin and Nico at the IBO 2024 in Kazakhstan.

Leora and Nico, who were among the four students who represented Switzerland at the International Biology Olympiad in Kazakhstan , were able to attend this year’s LS2 annual meeting under the motto The complexity of life: From molecular assemblies to networks. 

Among others, they met Joel, a former Science Olympian who was invited due to his performance at the Swiss Youth in Science National Contest. “It was very nice to meet other young students, although it would have been cool if a bit more students my age had been there”, Nico says. Not having started university yet, he found the talks difficult to follow, but appreciated this first insight into the way scientists present their work.

Nico and Leora chatting with Joel.

“It was an impressive three days, there was a flood of scientific information on very specific biochemical and biophysical topics”, says Leora. She particularly appreciated the program point Pls of Tomorrow where 4 young researchers had to present and apply for their research plans, as well as the two talks by this year's Friedrich Miescher award winners: Claudia Keller Valsecchi on the epigenetics of sex differences and Li Tang on new approaches in immunotherapy for cancer. “I also thought the catering was great”, she adds. “In addition to lunch with salad and soup, there were always sweet snacks and coffee to the point of caffeine overdose!”

Are you in high school and passionate about life sciences? The Biology Olympiad starts again in the new school year! Ask your biology teacher to take part.