Harmful pyrolytic by products from smoking and vaping drugs of abuse

Many drugs of abuse, such as heroin and cocaine are smoked. This produces by-products that cause additional harm alongside the intrinsic risks of the drugs. The by-products produced by most drugs and their toxicity are unknown. Vaping might be safer, as the lower operating temperature may produce fewer by-products.

This project will use a smoking simulator to characterise the by-products from smoking and vaping. Their site of deposition in the lungs will be estimated by measuring their particle size. The toxicity of individual by-products and the mixtures produced by smoking will be investigated using lung organoids and cell toxicity assays.