Renuka Chintapalli from Loreto Secondary School – Balbriggan, County Dublin won the RCSI award for the ‘Project with the Best Impact on Human Health’ at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in the RDS on Friday, 8 January 2016.

Renuka's winning project developed a predictive tool for identifying FLNc-associated biomarkers of oesophageal cancer metastasis. She was also a runner up in the overall individual competition.

The award was presented by Professor Susan Smith, Professor of Primary Care Medicine, Department of General Practice, RCSI. Speaking at the awards ceremony Prof Smith congratulated Renuka on her success. “RCSI is delighted to be associated with the BT Young Scientists Exhibition, in particular in fostering an interest in human health. This event is a fantastic platform for so many of Ireland’s young talented students to develop their ideas and bring them to life on a national stage.

Renuka is a very impressive young individual and her project was very informative and grounded in excellent science. It was well thought out and involved sophisticated data mining techniques in order to identify potential biomarkers associated with oesophageal cancer outcomes.”

This is the first year RCSI has sponsored a special category award at the BT Young Scientists Exhibition. The RCSI award for ‘Project with the Best Impact on Human Health’ was awarded to the project with the best potential to impact on any area across the spectrum of human health and supports RCSI’s role of developing healthcare leaders who make a difference worldwide and the College’s mission to educate, nurture and discover for the benefit of human health. 

The 52nd BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition attracted a total of 2,048 entries from the island of Ireland with 4,449 students submitting their finest ideas and innovations for consideration across the science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects.