NUS Medicine Year 2 students emerge victorious at international immunology and microbiology competition
Published: 29 Mar 2024
Credits: NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
Year 2 students from the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine ( NUS Medicine), Christopher Tay, Mikail S/O Faris Akbar, Venkatesan Subasriram and Tang Guang Xiang, came in victorious in the USIM International Microbiology Quiz Competition 2024 (I’MICROBE 2024) held at University Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) on 9 March 2024.
I’MICROBE is an international competition that test the participants’ knowledge in immunology and microbiology. After a day of intense competition, the NUS Medicine team defeated other 29 teams from around the world, and walked away with a grand prize of 1000MYR and the champion trophy.
The team dived into preparation mode immediately after their examinations, which gave them a little over two weeks before the competition. They had already earlier revised microbiology topics for their examinations, but continued to supplement their knowledge with additional information that was not taught in the curriculum, using memory reference tools which train visual recognition and memory.
Credits: NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
Team member, Tang Guang Xiang, recalled the intensity of the competition. “Most of the questions were at a Phase 2 level but there were also many questions that required higher level knowledge. In all the rounds, there was also a lot of time pressure which caused us to make some mistakes. This was exacerbated by the Kahoot format which rewards faster answers. In the final round, there was a lot of pressure sitting on the stage and answering questions in front of the judges and a very large audience. Despite the huge pressure, we had a really great time learning from, and with, the international teams. It was also a great opportunity to share more about NUS and our medical curriculum as well.”
The team gave credit to their mentor, Prof Satish L Ramapatna, from the Department of Anatomy for mentoring them and acting as the liaison with the faculty members from other medical schools in the region, and even going the extra mile by accompanying the team to the competition in Malaysia.
Prof Satish commended the team on a job well done. “It was a great feeling to see our NUS Medicine students excel at the USIM International Microbiology Quiz Competition 2024. They performed extremely well under stressful conditions, where they had to analyse, interpret and deliver the answers in less than five minutes in front of an august gathering.”
