Taneesha Highlights Vaping Risks in BT Young Scientist Project

A SERC student has secured a place in the prestigious BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE), which takes place in Dublin 11 – 13 January 2023, for her project on vaping.

Taneesha McCaughran, (18), from Glengormley, was home-schooled  before coming to SERC. She said, “I have always loved science and was keen to pursue my interest further. Coming to SERC enabled me to progress on to the Level 2 Double Award in Applied Science and gain my maths and IT skills. Successful completion of the Level 2 meant I had a clear path to my current studies on the BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma in Applied Science and I am now in the second year of the course.   It wasn’t plain sailing though - I wasn’t up to speed with working to deadlines, doing work online and all the IT everyone uses as part of their course, but I got all the support I needed to keep going.   Everyone is very friendly, helpful, and supportive.”    

The young woman was selected to exhibit in BTYSTE last year as part of a team project and this year will be exhibiting as an individual, again in the Biological and Ecological category.   She said, “Health concerns around vaping are very topical at the minute.   There has been a huge increase in young people vaping, but the impact of e-cigarettes has been largely unexplored.   My project investigated if vape extract triggers the release of HE4 – which is profibrotic – which would suggest vaping is fibrosis-inducing."

She continued, “It has been a great project to work on and this year again, I got support from Dr Betina Schock, and her team at Queen’s University Belfast, enabling me to use their equipment which has been invaluable.”

When asked about her long-term ambitions, Taneesha said, “I do want to go on and get a degree and right now I am very interested in Radiography.  I also want to combine some travel with teaching.  I have recently returned from Korea where I was teaching English, and this is something I want to build into my future.”   

Best of luck to Taneesha and fellow science student Cassie Caldwell who is also representing the College at BTYSTE in Dublin this week.