![The Irvine Brain Bee is a neuroscience competition for high school students, according to freshmen Arya Aia. “[They] could attend a UCI event where, first they took a written test in a neuroanatomy practical, and then afterwards they got into groups and toured labs to learn more about neuroscience.”](https://portolapilot.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/UCI-Brain-Bee-1200x675.jpeg)
Freshman Arya Aia and sophomore Mahima Wuppalapati competed in the Irvine Brain Bee competition hosted by the UC Irvine Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory’s Office of Outreach and Education, and became finalists on Feb. 7. Aia placed fourth and Wuppalapati placed third overall in the competition.
“I didn’t expect to make it to finals because it was my first year doing the Brain Bee [and] I didn’t really know what to expect for the competition,” Aia said. “However, because I did read the ‘Brain Facts’ textbook, and because I had extensive neuroscience knowledge prior, I think that really helped me make it to finals.”
Aia said that she had prior knowledge on neuroscience through her background in Science Olympiad, but she entered Brain Bee to dive deeper into the subject. Through the Southern California Youth Neuroscience Association club at Portola High, Aia used the Brain Bee to expand her interests in physiology.
“I was interested in seeing the neuroscience labs we attended with mice involving drugs,” Aia said, “how they react to the drugs, to test whether drugs are addictive, and whether solutions or new drugs to help with addiction can be addictive to patients that take them.”
To place third overall in the Brain Bee, Wuppalapati utilized different studying techniques. Wuppalapati said she used strategies like practice quizzes she created previously and annotated her textbook in preparation.
“I found some of the more abstract concepts were challenging,” Wuppalapati said. “Like how action potentials work because [it] relates to electricity and how the electricity flows through the neuron, but it’s hard to see that and visualize it.”
Though specific questions on cells and diseases presented a challenge, these Portola High students persevered by relying on past knowledge and studying leading up to this competition, according to Wuppalapati.
Aia and Wuppalapati showcased their knowledge on neuroscience and skills under pressure in the final portion of the competition in a live questioning session judged by Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory faculty Momoko Watanabe, Javier Diaz Alonso and Mimi Liljeholm, according to the UC Irvine Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory.
Aia and Wuppalapati said they look forward to participating in the annual Irvine Brain Bee competition next year and ending up with a finalist rank again.
