London Brain Bee Revision

Session!
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• An annual secondary school student

What is neuroscience competition, endorsed by FENS
Brain Bee? • Part of the International Brain Bee
• Designed to:
♥ test your knowledge of the human brain and
neuroscience
♥ foster enthusiasm for STEM subjects
♥ promote knowledge sharing and respect
♥ connect academic research with schools
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• Currently live in the United Kingdom

• Be a student in Year 9-13
Rules • Get a permission form signed by your parent/
guardian
• No recording devices can be used at the competition
during the question-and-answer period
• A student can compete in the International
Competition only once
• A student can compete in only one regional
competition per year
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Written • 35 MCQ questions
exam • 35 minutes
• On Kahoot!

Competition
Anatomy & • 20 specimens and histology slides
format Histology • 20 minutes

• 15 open questions
Live Q&A • answers on white boards
challenge • 15 minutes

• 5-10 patient actors

Patient
• 5 minutes per patient
diagnosis
• Only in the national competition
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Brain Facts released
by the Society for
Neurosciences.
Study
resources

Neuroscience: Science of the

Brain, published by the
European Dana Alliance for the
Brain in many different
languages

DOWNLOAD ON WWW.BRAINBEE-UK.COM
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Trip to the International
Brain Bee

Prizes Mentoring The national winner will win

training and a trip to the IBB
The winners will in Germany August 2018.
Neuroscience benefit from career
textbooks mentoring

Internship in a
lab
Various prizes
throughout the
day

Mugs, sweets, T-
shirts
 “
“I honestly view my participation as a dividing line in my life- there is before Brain Bee and there
7

is after Brain Bee.”

xxx
“It opened me up to the world of neuroscience and careers in scientific research, we don’t get
that in high school.”
xxx
“My Brain Bee experience was one of the defining experiences of my high school career. It
helped my self-confidence to grow enormously. It was a fantastic academic challenge and
sparked an interest in neuroscience, allowed me to meet people with whom I still maintain
valuable connections.”
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To register go to
www.brainbee-uk.com
 9

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Introduction to the brain
Brain Anatomy Fact: Your Brain uses 20% of the
Oxygen and Blood in your body
 London Taxi
Driver Study of
hippocampus

Forebrain Memorize all of

these structures!!
Division of the Nervous System
Remember! Axon
-Neurons are cells, so Terminals
they have all the same
organelles as regular
cells

Soma (Cell Body)

Neurons
Direction message travels
Dendrite
Axon
Action Potential
 Neurotransmitters

Acetylcholine
Amines Amino Acids Neuropeptides
(ACh)
Other
Neurotransmitters:
Parkinson's
link -Lipids (Anandamide)
-Norepinephrine
-Gases (Nitric Oxide) -Glutamate
-Dopamine -Glycine -Substance P
-Second Messengers
-Serotonin -GABA

Aspects of Neurotransmitters to know:

Neurotransmitters ● Excitatory/Inhibitory
● Associated Effects
● Diseases/drugs it interacts with
Second messengers are like social
media: it helps spread the message
quickly throughout the cell
(amplification)

Second 3 types of Second Messengers:

● Calcium ions
Benefits of Second
Messengers:
● cAMP ● Amplification
Messengers ● DAG ● Specificity
● Compartmentalization
 Plasticity

3 germ layers:
● Endoderm

Development ● Mesoderm
● Ectoderm → neural fold + neural groove → skin
and brain Questions
Sensing, Thinking,
and Behaving
 Rods: color,
acute detail
Cones: black/
white, sensitive
Pupil: regulates how
to light
much light enters eye
Cornea: Does most
of focusing

Vision
Pathway of light
Light → cornea → lens →
ganglion cells → bipolar cells
→ photoreceptors

Pathway of electrical signal

bipolar cells → bipolar cells →
ganglion cells → optic nerve
→ lateral geniculate nucleus
→ primary visual cortex

Retina Anatomy
 Sound waves → pinna/auditory canal → tympanic
membrane → malleus → incus → stapes → oval
window → cochlea → hair cells → auditory nerve →
auditory cortex

Hearing
Taste + Smell
 Two point threshold:
distance between two
points on the skin
necessary in order for a
person to distinguish 2
homunculus distinct stimuli

Touch/ Touch receptors:

Merkel’s disks 2 types of pain receptors:
Ruffini bodies ● Myelinated (Ad): sharp, fast pain

Pain Meissner’s corpuscles ● Unmyelinated (C): dull, diffuse, slow pain

Memory
Long-term potentiation: long-lasting
increase in strength of a synaptic
response → occurs as a change of
synapses involving NMDA receptors
and glutamate

Storing Memories
Language
Golgi tendon: measures force
Muscle spindle: measures
stretch

Muscle Anatomy
 Motor cortex - directs control of alpha motor neurons
Basal Ganglia - related to Parkinson’s
Cerebellum - integrates movement info, coordination, and
adjusts output with changing conditions

Movement Processing In Brain

Voluntary vs. Involuntary Movement
Questions

Role of stress in memory?
Chronic stress →
● Hypertension: high blood
pressure
● Atherosclerosis (hardening
of arteries): abdominal
obesity, impaired neuron
function in hippocampus
Stress
Activates 3 systems:
● Voluntary NS: message to
muscles
● Autonomic NS:
○ Sympathetic (excites) →
move blood to muscles,
release of epinephrine
○ Parasympathetic (calms) →
regulates body once stressor
has passed
● Neuroendocrine: stress
hormones travel through the
blood and stimulate the release
of other hormones
Aging
● 1. Neuroscientists believe that the brain can
remain relatively healthy and full-functioning as it
ages.
○ Severe declines in memory, intelligence,
verbal fluency, and other tasks reflect
disease processes are not a part of normal
aging.
● 2. The effects of age on brain function are subtle
and very selective
○ Do not include widespread cell loss
○ Progressive mental decline is not an
inevitable part of aging
● 3. Damaged brain cannot respond with a robust
generation of new neurons
○ Relatively small stem cell populations
remain in a healthy adult brain
■ But they contribute to only a few of
the many different types of neurons
found
● Physical and mental exercise is viewed as an
effective means of slowing the effects of brain
aging
Brain Research
Diseases and
Disorders
Childhood Disorders
Childhood Disorders
Addiction
Nicotine
Alcohol
Marijuana
Opiates
Psychostimulants
Club Drugs
Degenerative Disorders
Degenerative Disorders
Psychiatric Disorders
Tourette Syndrome
Schizophrenia
PTSD
OCD
Panic Disorder
Injury and Illness
Brain Basics

MCQ

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 Name 1 benefit of the
second messenger system.

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Topic 1 - $200 Answer

Amplification, Specificity,
Compartmentalization

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Topic 1 - $300 Question

List 1 lipid neurotransmitters

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Topic 1 - $300 Answer

-Lipids (Anandamide, Prostaglandin)

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Topic 1 - $400 Question

What happens to the Na+

and K+ channels during the
falling phase?

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Topic 1 - $400 Answer

K+: Open
Na+: Closed

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Topic 1 - $500 Question

What are the 3 germ layers?

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Topic 1 - $500 Answer

Endoderm, Ectoderm and

Mesoderm

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Topic 2 - $100 Question

What are the 2

photoreceptors and what do
they see?

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Topic 2 - $100 Answer

Cones: color
Rods: black/white (more
sensitive to light)

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Topic 2 - $200 Question

What is plasticity? Why is it

important?

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Topic 2 - $200 Answer

Brain’s ability to learn by

changing anatomy. This is
important so brain can be
adaptable.
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Topic 2 - $300 Question

What receptor is vital for

LTP?

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Topic 2 - $300 Answer

NMDA Receptor

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Topic 2 - $400 Question

Name an area on the body

with high acuity and a low
two-point threshold.

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Topic 2 - $400 Answer

Hands, lips, tongue

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Topic 2 - $500 Question

What is semantic memory?

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Topic 2 - $500 Answer

Semantic (facts and figures)

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Topic 3 - $100 Question

True or false: Severe declines

in memory, intelligence and
verbal fluency are a normal
part of aging .

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Topic 3 - $100 Answer

False

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Topic 3 - $200 Question

What is viewed as an
effective means of slowing
the effects of brain aging?

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Topic 3 - $200 Answer

Physical and mental exercise

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Topic 3 - $300 Question

What are two effects of

chronic stress?

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Topic 3 - $300 Answer

Appetite, Hypertension: high blood

pressure, Atherosclerosis (hardening of
arteries), abdominal obesity, impaired
neuron function in hippocampus

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Topic 3 - $400 Question

What neurotransmitter is
released by the nervous
system in response to stress?

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Topic 3 - $400 Answer

Epinephrine by the
Sympathetic Nervous System

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Topic 3 - $500 Question

What is the name of the

cells that can become new
neurons?

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Topic 3 - $500 Answer

Stem Cells

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Topic 4 - $100 Question

Name a symptom of
schizophrenia

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Topic 4 - $100 Answer

Hallucinations, delusions,
confused thinking, inability
to experience pleasure, lack
of emotion
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Topic 4 - $200 Question

True or False: TMS is

currently being used as a
possible treatment for
depression.
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Topic 4 - $200 Answer

True

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Topic 4 - $300 Question

What is the genetic mutation

associated with Down’s
syndrome?

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Topic 4 - $300 Answer

Genetic Cause: Extra copy of

chromosome 21

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Topic 4 - $400 Question

What neurotransmitter is
associated with Parkinson’s
Disease?

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Topic 4 - $400 Answer

Dopamine

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Topic 4 - $500 Question

What neurotransmitter is
associated with ALS?

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Topic 4 - $500 Answer

Glutamate (excess of it)

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Topic 5 - $200 Question

What is used as a treatment

for bipolar disorder?

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Topic 5 - $200 Answer

Lithium
Or anti-convulsants like
valproate

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Topic 5 - $300 Question

What does MRI stand for?

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Topic 5 - $300 Answer

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

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Topic 5 - $400 Question

MS is associated with the

degeneration of what?

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Topic 5 - $400 Answer

Myelin Sheath

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Topic 5 - $500 Question

What is a common treatment

for ADHD?

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Topic 5 - $500 Answer

Behavioral therapy,
stimulants

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QUESTIONS?
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