Yuri Milner's Breakthrough Junior Challenge Announces 2023 Winner

Yuri Milner's Breakthrough Junior Challenge has named its 2023 winner: 17-year-old Sia Godika from India. Godika won the ninth annual science competition for teenagers with her video about Yamanaka factors. She has earned prizes worth a total of $400,000 for herself, her science teacher, and her school.

Julia and Yuri Milner established the Breakthrough Junior Challenge in 2015. The global science competition invites students aged 13–18 to create short, original videos that illuminate a concept or theory in mathematics, physics, or the life sciences. To date, the competition has received 25,000 submissions from over 200 countries.

Sia Godika's Winning Video on Yamanaka Factors

Can we turn back the clock on cellular ageing? Godika's winning video explores how special gene transcription factors can reverse the cell specialisation process, restoring adult cells to their original undifferentiated, youthful state.

Cell Specialisation

At the start of her video, Godika appears as an elderly woman. She explains that embryonic stem cells are pluripotent, which means they can become any cell type.

Like balls rolling down a hill, undifferentiated cells go through chemical changes that lead to cell specialisation. Eventually, they become different types of cells, such as muscle, liver, intestinal, and nerve cells.

Scientists considered this process irreversible until Japanese researcher Shinya Yamanaka made a breakthrough in the field.

Four Special Gene Transcription Factors

Transforming back into her teenage self, Godika explains that Yamanaka discovered four gene transcription factors—Oct3/4, Sox2, c-Myc, and Klf4—that can cause adult cells to turn back into stem cells. Scientists call these induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).

Godika's video uses clear, colourful animations to illustrate how these factors, now known as Yamanaka factors, produce iPSCs. They do this by resetting cell identity, silencing specialisation, activating pluripotency, and modifying protein packing in adult cells.

Fighting Age-Related Diseases

Yamanaka won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and a Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for his pioneering research. His discovery of iPSCs has far-reaching implications for the treatment of degenerative diseases.

Godika explains that studies show low doses of Yamanaka variants can reprogramme cells to reach their youthful state. Through this reversal process, the Yamanaka factors "wash away" old age while retaining cell identity. Scientists could, for example, turn old muscle cells back into young muscle cells.

If clinically proven, harnessing the power of Yamanaka factors could help us fight age-related diseases, drastically expanding people's health span. (Our lifespan is the number of years we live, while our health span is the period of our life in which we are healthy).

Choosing the 2023 Breakthrough Junior Challenge Winner

More than 2,400 teenagers from over 100 countries entered the 2023 Breakthrough Junior Challenge. After entrants scored each other's videos in a mandatory Peer-to-Peer Review, an Evaluation Panel narrowed the pool to 30 semi-finalists.

Next, these semi-finalists competed in the Popular Vote. During this stage of the judging process, the Breakthrough Junior Challenge invites the public to vote for their favourite videos on the Breakthrough Prize Facebook or YouTube pages. The 30 videos reached over 500,000 people during the 15-day Popular Vote, inspiring and enlightening viewers worldwide.

In September 2023, the competition announced its 15 finalists and Popular Vote Regional Champions. Godika was a finalist and the Popular Vote Regional Champion for India.

Lastly, a Selection Committee of science experts and scholars reviewed and scored the 15 finalists, selecting up to 5 entries for final consideration.

The 2023 Selection Committee Members

The 2023 Selection Committee members included:

• Ian Agol, professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics laureate.
• Rachel Crane, a space and science correspondent at CNN.
• Pascale Ehrenfreund, president of the International Space University.
• John Grunsfeld, a former NASA astronaut and administrator.
• Mae Jemison, a former astronaut, science literacy expert, and leader of the 100-Year Starship initiative.
• Jeffery Kelly, professor of chemistry at Scripps Research Institute and a Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences laureate.
• Scott Kelly, a retired NASA astronaut.
• Salman Khan, the founder and CEO of Khan Academy, one of the partners of the Breakthrough Junior Challenge. The non-profit organisation is on a mission to provide everyone with free, world-class education.
• Ijad Madisch, the co-founder and CEO of ResearchGate.
• Nicole Stott, a NASA astronaut.
• Andrew Strominger, a professor of physics at Harvard University and a Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics laureate.
• Terence Tao, a UCLA professor and Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics laureate.
• Esther Wojcicki, the founder of the Media Arts Center at Palo Alto High School.
• Pete Worden, the chairman of the Breakthrough Foundation and the executive director of the Breakthrough Initiatives.

Life-Changing Educational Prizes

The Breakthrough Junior Challenge announced Godika as the overall winner on 6 February. Godika will receive a $250,000 college scholarship, paving the way for her plans to attend a university in the U.S. after she graduates from high school in 2024.

Additionally, Godika's science teacher, Arka Moulik, will receive a $50,000 cash prize. Plus, her school—Neev Academy in Bangalore—will receive a state-of-the-art science lab valued at $100,000. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a leader in biomedical research and education, will design the lab.

Godika's older brother Samay had the duty of telling Godika that she had won the competition. Samay is himself a past Breakthrough Junior Challenge champion. He won the competition in 2018 with his video on circadian rhythms.

Godika watched her brother receive the Breakthrough Junior Challenge prize at the Breakthrough Prize ceremony six years ago. Now, the Breakthrough Prize will honour Godika alongside its 2024 laureates on 13 April at this year's ceremony in Los Angeles.

"This is such an unbelievable honour, and I am so grateful," Godika said. "My grandparents are battling cancer and age-related neurological disorders. I wanted to learn everything I could about the latest science to help in finding cures."

"Reversing cellular ageing can proactively prevent several debilitating diseases," she added. "I'm determined to contribute to research that can make this future a reality."

Yamanaka himself commented on Godika's win, saying: "It's exciting to see a talented young student finding out about my work and explaining it to others in such a clear and creative way. My congratulations to Sia, and I hope she continues her journey in the life sciences, where so much waits to be discovered."

Nurturing the Next Generation of Science Communicators

Julia and Yuri Milner's Breakthrough Foundation organises and sponsors the Breakthrough Junior Challenge. The couple created the competition to foster enthusiasm for science amongst young people and inspire them to pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).

The competition also captures the imagination and interest of the general public, illuminating important concepts of fundamental science.

"I am excited that the Breakthrough Junior Challenge is reaching young people around the world, helping them to grow as scientists and share the wonders of science with their peers," Julia Milner said. She congratulated Godika for her "brilliant and dramatic film about one of the most promising discoveries in modern biology."

"Sia's video submission is a brilliant, funny, and visually creative rendition of a sophisticated, recent discovery in genetics that has profoundly impacted the biological sciences," Selection Committee member Salman Khan said.

"I am heartened and inspired that through this Challenge, we are growing the next generation of powerful science communicators," he added.

Applications for this year's Breakthrough Challenge open on 1 April 2024. Yuri Milner and the rest of the Breakthrough Foundation team look forward to watching the inspirational videos that this year's contestants submit.

About Yuri Milner

Yuri Milner is a successful tech entrepreneur and prolific science philanthropist. He has co-founded and funded several groundbreaking science-focused initiatives, including the Breakthrough Junior Challenge and Breakthrough Prize.

He and his wife signed the Giving Pledge in 2012, joining other billionaires who have committed to give most of their wealth to charitable causes. The Milners' Giving Pledge focuses on investing in the world's leading minds and our shared future.

In 2021, Milner released his short book Eureka Manifesto: The Mission for Our Civilisation. Eureka Manifesto explores Milner's ideas about science, space exploration, and the future of humanity and the Universe.