Spit For Science Project Collects Canadian Youth's Saliva For DNA Analysis

July 8, 2009 2:39 p.m. EST

Toronto, Ontario (AHN) - Young visitors at the Ontario Science Center are being asked to donate their saliva by spitting in collection tubes. In charge of the spitting booth is the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

The unusual specimen collection endeavor is part of the Spit for Science project in Canada, which aims to collect the spit of 10,000 young people between the ages seven to 17. Their saliva and behavioral information would go through DNA analysis for researchers to find out if there is a link between obsessive-compulsive and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders and a child's genetic make-up.

Aside from giving their saliva, the participants in the research project are required to do computer tasks during which their reaction time is tracked. The parents of the children are requested to answer a questionnaire about their child.

Dr. Russell Schachar, a senior scientists at the Hospital for Sick Children's neurosciences and mental health department, told the Canadian Press, "This is an innovative way of bringing science out of the lab and into a public place where young people can take part in a real science project."

A similar saliva collection project is being run by the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in New York. The 10,000 participants will serve as normal control. The institute ran a call for participants at its Website. To qualify the volunteer must be 18 or older and generally healthy because their data would be compared other groups with specific ailments or conditions.