What happens to my spit?

Are you wondering what happens to your spit sample after you leave the study? Do you wonder where it goes or how we get DNA from it? If so, you need to check out this great link on the Genetic Science Learning Center website at the University of Utah. Here, in an interactive DNA Extraction Virtual Lab, you can see how DNA gets taken out, or extracted from, saliva samples.

Our procedure is the same as what you will see online, but instead of using saliva collection swabs we had participants spit right into a collection tube.

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/labs/extraction/

After you leave the study, we store your saliva sample with all of the others that we collected that day. Every couple of weeks, we bring all the samples back to a lab at The Hospital for Sick Children and the samples are extracted using the same method shown in the virtual lab!