Irish Medicines Board at the BT Young Scientist Exhibition

14 January 2012

Thousands of students from all over Ireland visited the Irish Medicines Board’s exhibition stand at this week's BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition 2012.

The exhibition, which was open to the public from Thursday 12 to Saturday 14 January in the RDS, welcomed huge numbers of visiting students, teachers, parents and members of the general public.

The IMB stand focused on building awareness of the significant role the IMB plays in protecting public and animal health. In particular, the important issue of medicines and medical devices safety was highlighted. The stand also focused on the many interesting science related career opportunities that are available in the healthcare products industry.

Interactive
Visitors to the stand participated in an interactive scientific demonstration that helps to identify counterfeit medicines. This demonstration highlighted the risks associated with purchasing prescription medicines via the internet. A broad range of medical devices were also on display at the stand and visitors tested their knowledge of devices in our interactive quiz.

The Irish Medicines Board Special Award
The IMB special award was presented to Lavina Blanking from St Mary's College in Derry. Lavina's project - A Spoonful of Medicine - examined how accurately different spoons measure a dose of medicine. 

The IMB Award is granted to a project that best assists an increase in understanding by people of the safe use of, or access to, medicines and/or medical devices. Lavina's findings very much reinforce the IMB message that every medicine should be taken safely and with care to maximise its effectiveness.

Further Information
Further information about this year's event, including all the winners, is available from www.btyoungscientist.ie.  

Congratulations to all of the students who participated.