Sanofi Canada celebrates winners of the 2024 Biogenius Competition and awards fourth annual Biogenius Grants

TORONTO, June 18, 2024 /CNW/ - Sanofi Canada is pleased to announce the winners of the 32^nd annual Sanofi Biogenius Canada Competition and recipients of the 2024 Sanofi Biogenius Canada Grants. Part of Sanofi Canada's longstanding commitment to improving access to hands-on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning and education, the competition and grants help to nurture the next generation of scientific talent by inspiring Canadian youth to embrace scientific discovery.

2024 winners of the Sanofi Canada Biogenius Competition (CNW Group/Sanofi-Aventis Canada Inc.)

The Sanofi Biogenius Canada Competition celebrates the best health, biotechnology and life science projects from across the country, encouraging students to follow their curiosity and pursue ground-breaking STEM projects.

The Sanofi Biogenius Canada Grant program awards four public high schools with a $50,000 financial grant to advance STEM education by renovating existing classroom labs, purchasing new scientific equipment, and expanding programming to enhance learning.

Stephanie Veyrun-Manetti
Country Lead and General Manager, Specialty Care, Sanofi Canada

"We're incredibly proud to support the next generation of scientists. For more than 30 years, the Sanofi Biogenius Canada Program has been fostering a passion for STEM education across the country. We've witnessed how the competition and grant program have opened doors for students and communities, making hands-on scientific learning more accessible and engaging. Congratulations to the 2024 competition winners and grant recipients. Thank you to the hundreds of students and teachers who have shared their innovative projects and school programs with us this year. Your unwavering enthusiasm is a testament to the inherent fascination and significance of scientific discovery, and you continue to inspire us each year."

Reni Barlow 
Executive Director, Youth Science Canada

"Sanofi's commitment to supporting STEM education has made a profound impact on students, teachers, and schools nationwide, providing them with opportunities to engage in hands-on scientific learning and pursue their interests in STEM fields. For many years, Sanofi Canada and Youth Science Canada have collaborated to ignite a passion for scientific exploration, encouraging students to dream big and pursue ground-breaking research. We are thrilled to continue our partnership in hosting the 32^nd annual Sanofi Biogenius Canada Competition and supporting with the selection of this year's Grant recipients."

The Sanofi Biogenius Canada Competition
The 32^nd annual Competition took place during the 62^nd edition of Youth Science Canada's (YSC) Canada-Wide Science Fair (CWSF), held in Ottawa, Ontario. Nine Sanofi Biogenius Canada Special Awards were presented by Sanofi Canada across the junior, intermediate and senior categories.

Sanofi congratulates the winners in each special awards category, including:

Junior

• Sarah Bykewich, Alberta; Electroculture
• Sehar Sidhu, Ontario; Delving Deep Into SARS-CoV-2
• Kristina Tannert, British Columbia; From Oil Spills to Algae Thrills

Intermediate

• Audrey Cowen, Ontario; Microbes and Molecules: The Key to Abolishing Drug Resistance
• Jacklyn Saddler, Ontario; The Effect of Keracyanin in Attenuating the Multifactorial Pathogenesis of Ulcerative Colitis
• Ella Sehn, Ontario; Right On The Nose: Using a Super-Absorbent Polymer to Improve Treatment of Chronic Sinusitis

Senior

• Noah Bryan, Ontario; Is the water safe to drink? The rapid test is the missing link!
• Baljot Rai, Manitoba; MopMussels: Development of a Carpet Mussel Shell-based Biosorbent for Phosphorus
• Viduni Siriwardana, British Columbia; Novel Nanoparticle Drug Treatment for Adult BCP-ALL Using In-Silico Modeling

The Sanofi Biogenius Canada Grants
Sanofi Canada has awarded four $50,000 Biogenius Grants to public high schools from across the country.

Recipients of the 2024 Sanofi Biogenius Canada Grants include:

• Hay Lakes School, Hay Lakes, AB
• Exchange Met School, Winnipeg, MB
• St. Malachy's Memorial High School, Saint John, NB
• Chief Jimmy Bruneau School, Edzo, NWT

For more information on the Sanofi Biogenius Canada Competition and Grants, visit https://biogenius.ca.

About Sanofi Biogenius Canada
The Sanofi Biogenius Canada Competition encourages students from coast-to-coast-to-coast and any background to break barriers and explore real-life science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) research ideas that can change lives – all before leaving high school. The Sanofi Biogenius Canada Grants help provide better access to hands-on STEM learning by supporting Canadian public high schools with financial grants to update lab equipment, launch new science programs and take science education to the next level.

About Sanofi Canada
Sanofi is an innovative global healthcare company, driven by one purpose: we chase the miracles of science to improve people's lives. Our team, across some 100 countries, is dedicated to transforming the practice of medicine by working to turn the impossible into the possible. We provide potentially life-changing treatment options and life-saving vaccine protection to millions of people globally, while putting sustainability and social responsibility at the center of our ambitions.

In Canada, we employ over 2,000 people and invest annually 20% of our revenue in biopharma research, representing CAD $1.2 billion in R&D over the last decade, creating jobs, business, and opportunity throughout the country. We're also on track to deliver over $2 billion in new infrastructure investments by 2028, including two new vaccine manufacturing facilities at our Toronto Campus.

In 2024, we are celebrating 110 years of heritage dedicated to developing innovative health solutions for Canadians. What started as a small laboratory in May of 1914, recognized for having advanced some of the greatest contributions to public health, both nationally and globally, has evolved to become the largest biomanufacturing facility in Canada.

About Youth Science Canada 
Youth Science Canada fuels the curiosity of Canadian youth through STEM projects. A registered charity incorporated in 1966, YSC delivers on its mission through national programs including mySTEMspace, the National STEM Fair Network, Canada-Wide Science Fair, STEM Expo, Team Canada representation at international fairs and Smarter Science professional development for teachers. Through these programs, YSC provides direct support to the more than 500,000 students who do STEM projects in any given year. For more information, visit youthscience.ca.

SOURCE Sanofi-Aventis Canada Inc.

Contacts: Calin Collett | [email protected]