KUBANG KERIAN, 20 March 2016 - The “Malaysian Brain Bee Challenge (MBBC) 2016” is a project pioneered by the Neuroscience Department, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Kubang Kerian with the cooperation of the Society for Neuroscience (Kelantan Chapter).

The competition, started by Associate Professor Dr. Muzaimi Mustapha, is aimed at giving exposure on the field of neuroscience to the younger generation in the Malaysian secondary schools.

Nine universities would be coordinating the secondary school students from each state, which are divided into nine zones. The preliminary rounds as well as the finals for each zone would be held at the respective universities, namely Universiti Utara Malaysia (Zone A), USM Main Campus (Zone B), Universiti Malaya (Zone C), Universiti Putra Malaysia (Zone D), USM Health Campus (Zone E), Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (Zone F), Taylor's University (Zone G), Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Zone H) and Universiti Malaysia Sabah (Zone I) simultaneously.

According to the MBBC Co-Coordinator 2016 for Zone B, Dr. Zurina Hassan, the preliminary rounds have been held on 14 January simultaneously in all the zones and this would be followed by the finals for the zones on 21 March.

For the preliminaries, the questions asked would be from the general knowledge category, and the students who progressed to the next level would need to answer questions which are related to neuroscience.

"Only three students would be selected from each zone for the zone-level finals, before competing nationally, which is to be held from 4 to 5 May 2016 at the USM Main Campus," she added.

The victorious national-level contestant would have the opportunity to go to Copenhagen, Denmark to take part in the International Brain Bee Challenge this coming July.

Translation: Mazlan Hanafi Basharudin

Text: Nor Khamisah Saidin (USM Internship Student)