Where is my spit now?

Did you "spit for science" and now you're wondering where your spit sample is?

All the saliva samples collected so far are now in a lab at the Hospital for Sick Children. Based on the information collected from the questionnaire that parents filled out about their children (or that teens filled out about themselves) we are determining which saliva samples will be included in the first round of DNA extraction.

Box of spit samples

Here are 4 boxes of spit samples. Each box holds 49 samples, and we have over 7000 samples in total. That means we have more than 140 boxes full of spit in our lab!

This spit sample has been in the preservative long enough for a "cell pellet" to form. The pellet is the cream colour mass you see at the bottom of the tube. The lab technician will use a chemical solution to break open each of the cells within the pellet. Once open, DNA can be extracted from each cell.