A liitle news about a Grand Prize

Let's start with the one we know! Imre Kalló is a senior researcher in the Endocrine Neurobiology Research Group, and he has not only the knowledge but also the human qualities to be an excellent mentor. After all, a mentor has other responsibilities than a scientific subject leader. A mentor also takes on the role of a supporter, adviser, or "educator" to his/her mentee. And a secondary school student, no matter how talented, skillful, and hard-working, sometimes needs all these things.

So Emil Koplányi, an 11th-grade student at the Könyves Kálmán High School in Budapest, chose the right place. 

He's not the only one in our institute to start his research as a high school student, and he's not the one who comes from the furthest away. There have been others who are not from Budapest, and I am certain that their teachers had a big part to play in bringing them to us.

It is also a good thing that almost 30 years ago Péter Csermely - not yet an academic - founded the Research Students' Movement, which soon crossed national borders, so this year's final, held in Kaposvár on 19-20 April, was the 24th, and Emil Koplányi won the grand prize in the Theoretical and Experimental Medicine section of the Performed Research Block with his presentation on "Glycine and Learning". 

It is important to note that the competition imposes strict conditions on the participants. The summary of their work (the abstract) submitted for judgment is similar to an abstract submitted for an "adult" conference. The competitors can progress to the final after several rounds, with judges who are all experts in the subject.

Papers are evaluated based on the scientific work carried out. The originality of the research and the quality of the work are judged and scored, as well as the knowledge of the literature and background knowledge of the young speaker in the discussion following the presentation are also counted.

Emil's Grand Prize proves that he excelled.

In addition to the Grand Prize, he will be rewarded, along with the other Grand Prize and First Prize winners of the sections, with an invitation to the six-day National Student Conference in Káptalanfüred, near Lake Balaton, and various publication opportunities. As a great honor, he is provided with the possibility to be able to compete with the "big boys" (university students) at the biennial National Scientific Student Conference (NSSC), or even to go to the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm!