With just under 17,500 residents, Fort St. John in northeast British Columbia has the distinction of being the second-largest city on the Alaska Highway after Whitehorse.

This year it also has the distinction of being the home of Taneille Johnson, whose research into the causes of an early-onset aging disorder called Dyskeratosis Congenita (DC) earned her the right the represent her province in the SABC finals.

Symptoms of the disease can include premature graying, degeneration of nails, lesions, anemia, testicular atrophy and predisposition to cancer. The lives of patients with more serious forms of the disease are often cut short.

Working with Dr. Tara Beattie at the University of Calgary (Fort St. John is near the Alberta border), Taneille looked at a DNA enzyme called telomerase, mutations of which are believed to shorten the lifespan of bone marrow stem cells and help cause DC.

Testing four common mutations, she determined that one suppressed telomerase activity while the other three had no effect.

“Understanding how telomerase and its mutations work is an extremely important field of study,” said Taneille, 17, a Grade 12 student at North Peace Secondary School. “Low activity is associated with DC and blood disorders such as anemia but too high levels are associated with many different types of cancer.”

She intends to pursue molecular biology and life sciences at McGill University next fall after a summer of lifeguarding, breaking a two-year tradition of spending her summer holiday in the University of Calgary lab.