Thank you!

The data collection phase of the "Spit for Science" project has come to an end. We are very pleased to announce that we far exceeded our initial goal of 10,000 participants and had an incredible 17,296 kids and teens take part in our study.

The success of this work is an example of what can be accomplished through a partnership between a museum like the Ontario Science Centre and an academic research institute like The Hospital for Sick Children. The behavioural, cognitive and genetic data that we have collected is like a library of science that will pay dividends for years and advance our understanding of normal cognitive development and of several common, impairing and costly psychiatric disorders named Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

The premise of our study is that ADHD and OCD are extremes that are widely distributed in the general population. For example, many individuals are easily preoccupied and worried about things, perfectionisitic, or engage in repetitive and habitual behaviours, etc. These traits may be harmless or even helpful when present to a mild degree, but lead to impairment in daily living if they are extreme. By comparing individuals at both extremes of a trait distribution (e.g.: the top and bottom 10%) we maximize our chances of finding genetic risk factors since the differences between groups is so great. At the Ontario Science Centre, our aim was to collect a large sample so that we would have sufficient numbers of individuals at the high and low ends of the trait distribution to compare to one another with regard to genomic variation.

This comparison would enable one to identify associations between specific genes and the traits we are studying. Identifying these gene-behaviour relationships will help identify key biological pathways underlying common and debilitating childhood onset psychiatric disorders.

We hope this research will represent a first step towards determining alternative and effective treatment strategies, early identification and prevention.

We thank all of the children and families who took the time to "Spit for Science" and have made our project a success. It's now off to the lab to hunt for genes!

Interview with a Senior Research Assistant

Last summer we asked several staff members about their experiences working on the Spit for Science project, so that blog readers can learn more about what it's like to be involved in research and science. We thought it would be nice to hear from some of our other team members, including one of our Senior Research Assistants, Hrag Pailian (pictured above with our 10,000th participant).

What are you taking in school? What year are you entering?

I am a first year Ph.D. student at Johns Hopkins University, conducting research in the fields of cognitive neuroscience and visual cognition.

What made you apply to be a research assistant for Spit for Science?

During my undergraduate career at the University of Toronto, I was given the opportunity to work within Dr. Russell Schachar's ADHD Laboratory at the Hospital for Sick Children. My experiences within Dr. Schachar's laboratory allowed me to develop a solid understanding of psychiatric illnesses, and specifically, the etiology of ADHD. However, during this same period of time, I had enrolled in a course at the university, in which the validity of ADHD was constantly debated (as a handful of academics argued that ADHD is the product of disease mongering by pharmaceutical companies). In this vein, "Spit for Science" presented itself as the ideal opportunity through which I would be able to add to this debate, and hopefully contribute to validating the disorder by helping to discover its genetic underpinnings.

What is your favourite part of the job?

Though it is difficult to champion one specific aspect of the job as my favourite part, I would argue that I find two things to be the most enjoyable. I find it quite refreshing to witness young children wanting to take part in our study by virtue of the fact that they would essentially be helping out sick kids who need their help. Though we do offer prizes in exchange for participation, I find it heart warming to see children prioritize helping others above receiving extrinsic rewards. My second favourite part of the job is the opportunity that it provides to educate young children on scientific matters. In this token, my colleagues and I find it quite rewarding to hear kids say that they would like to become future scientists as a result of their experiences at Spit for Science.

Why are you interested in science?

I've always been fascinated by human nature, and have yearned to understand why people do the things they do. In this vein, I find myself particularly interested in cognitive neuroscience and psychology as they provide insight into human behaviour by taking both biological and social factors into consideration. Moreover, I think the ability to conduct scientific research is just so exciting!

What surprising thing have you learned about yourself while working on this project, or what new skill have you learned?

I've realized that I am a lot more patient that I thought I was ;)

"Manhattan" Plot

This is a "Manhattan" plot -- so named because of how the groupings of dots look like skyscrapers on the Manhattan skyline. This plot is based on a small sample of children (less than 200) who took part in our study and is for illustration purposes only.

This plot shows differences between the extreme high and extreme low groups for genetic variants across the human genome. Each dot represents the results of a statistical test run for a specific genetic variant.

On the X (horizontal) axis of this plot are locations of chromosomes across the human genome (22 chromosome pairs, plus sex-determining pairs). The differences between the high and low groups can be found on the Y (vertical) axis which displays how significant, or meaningful, these differences are according to our statistical analyses. The higher the value, the stronger the genetic association. If the result lies above the dotted line, it is considered statistically significant after accounting for all of the many tests that have been performed.

The power, or strength, of our statistical analyses will be much greater once we have finished data collection and we have a full sample. We anticipate that multiple results will cross the dotted line, or be significant!

New Interviews with Team Members

Last summer we asked several staff members about their experiences working on the Spit for Science project, so that blog readers can learn more about what it's like to be involved in research and science. We thought it would be nice to hear from some of our other team members, including Cynthia Nguyen.

What are you taking in school? What year are you entering?

I'm entering my 4th year at the University of Toronto doing a major in health and disease and a double minor in sociology and psychology.

What made you apply to be a research assistant for Spit for Science?

I LOVE working with kids and believe that research is essential to further develop the advancements made in medical science today. It is very appealing to me that the Spit for Science project is looking for the relationship between genetics and the basis for different childhood behavioural disorders. That combined with the fact that I get to work with kids allowed me to combine the best of both worlds!

What is your favourite part of the job?

It has to be interacting with all the kids during the activities they get to participate in while doing the study. Especially seeing their faces when they have to spit.

Why are you interested in science?

I've always been interested in how things come to be or work ever since I was little. I used to think that lightning was someone from space taking a picture of us until I went to the library and realized that's not what actually happens. I must confess, I was a bit disappointed. Science just fascinates me and I enjoy learning about how our body works. Science is just cool!

What surprising thing have you learned about yourself while working on this project, or what new skill have you learned?

Over the past year I've really come out of my "shell" when it comes to interacting with others. Interacting with members of the public on a daily basis has really helped me improve and learn more communication skills. A "new" or improved skill that I have learned is time management! It's not easy to balance school and work but it's possible!

Milestone!

We are happy to announce that Spit for Science has reached a milestone - on Sunday May 16th we ran our 10,000th participant!

The special participant and his family allowed us to take pictures of this incredible moment to post on the blog - here's Owen with some of the Spit for Science staff as well as with his family.

Owen's parents had some great feedback about the experience:

"This certainly added some more excitement to our day! I've never seen Owen so excited to spit in a cup! We're happy that Owen could be the 10,000th child to participate in a study that could help so many children! Congratulations to everybody that has been involved!"

Updates and Feedback!

Believe it or not, we are up to 9741 participants. A big thank you to all the families who have taken part in our study. We will surely be celebrating once we reach 10,000 participants! If you're visiting the Ontario Science Centre over the next few weekends, the 10,000th participant could be you.

Here is some feedback we received from a family who took part in Spit for Science:

"Our family just wanted to drop you a line to let you know that Spit for Science is a brilliant idea. Having our children participate directly in an 'experiment' has lead to one of the more animated dinner conversations in our house this weekend! We have never been asked so many health/science questions before. I think we covered sampling, statistics, behaviour disorders, consent to treatment and DNA!!

You must also be congratulated on your choice of staff, lead by Hrag, as they were all knowledgeable, approachable, kid-friendly and answered all of the crazy questions that kids (and parents) will always ask!"

If you or your family has taken part in Spit for Science and want to give us some feedback, feel free to leave a comment below. We would love to hear your thoughts!

Photo Update!!

We recently had a camera on hand to capture some fun "Spit for Science" moments

One of our team members, Alex, watches 2 kids complete the "Stop Task"

Participants answer questions about themselves or

their child on our computerized survey

3 participants work enthusiastically on their spit samples

One of our team members, Anoush, collects a completed spit sample

We had a very busy March Break!

Thank you to all the kids, teens and parents who took part in our study during March Break. We had a very impressive 654 participants, bringing our total number of participants up to 9176!

We are looking forward to breaking the 10,000 mark, and hope to see you at the Science Centre in the coming months!

Over 8000 people have "Spit for Science"

Over 8000 visitors to the Ontario Science Centre have participated in our "Spit for Science" project! We look forward to recruiting new participants during the Family Day weekend in February (Saturday February 13th, Sunday February 14th and Monday February 15th). See you then.

More results!

Figure 1

Figure 2

These figures represent the distribution of scores on the measure of obsessive-compulsive (OC) traits we are using at the Ontario Science Centre, based on a parent reports of their children. The horizontal ("X") axis represents various total scores on the questionnaire which contains multiple items quantifiying different types of OC traits. The vertical ("Y") axis shows how often these scores occur in the population.

The distribution of scores approaches a normal distribution (see blog entry dated September 23, 2009 for an explanation of a normal distribution) but is slightly "skewed" leftward (or downward). However, despite the fact that parents tend to report low scores on this measure, there is still a very wide range of scores and quite a few children with high levels of OC traits.

In Figure 1, the total distribution of scores is illustrated.

In Figure 2, different curves are shown for boys and girls. Boys, shown in blue, are found to have slightly lower scores than girl, shown in red.

Spit for Science on YouTube!

Check out these YouTube links to learn more about the Spit for Science project!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KymFTM86lI8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aYJZq-F7fY

Basic facts about our participants

As you know, all the data collected so far is anonymous in all cases and there is no possibility that the scientists/researchers or anyone else can link genetic or behavioural data with a particular person. That being said, we are able to determine some characteristics about our participants as a group. For example:




The average age of participants is 10.7 years old







49.11% of participants are male and 50.89% are female - almost even!









155 twin pairs have participated in the study (i.e.: both twins have taken part)

Early results!

Our preliminary look at the data shows that we chose our measure of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) traits wisely. The distribution of scores is almost exactly that of a normal distribution.

What is a normal distribution?

A normal distribution is an average distribution of values that, when plotted on a graph, resembles the shape of a bell. Normal distributions generally develop when the sample size or number of observations is very large. Many human characteristics tend to follow a normal distribution, for example, biological measurements such as height, weight, and life span. In a normal distribution, most values fall near the average, with only a small percentage of values falling far above or below the average.

In our sample, the number of participants reporting high levels of ADHD traits and the number of participants reporting low levels of ADHD traits are approximately the same; with the vast majority of participants reporting average levels of ADHD traits.

As you can see from this graph, our data follows a normal distribution. The majority of participants reported average levels of ADHD traits (as seen by the tallest bars in the middle of the graph), while fewer participants reported either high or low levels of ADHD traits (as seen by the shortest bars on both side of the graph).

Preamble before we post our initial findings...

Over the course of the summer, we asked visitors to the Ontario Science Centre to join in a study of the genetics of obsessive, compulsive, and attentional traits.

Visitors were provided information about the risks and benefits of participation before giving written consent.

The data we collected is anonymous in all cases and there is no possibility that the scientists/researchers or anyone else can link genetic or behavioural data with a particular person.

Data was encrypted (given a "secret code" so that it's imcomprehensible to people not authorized to access the data) before being transferred to the Hospital for Sick Children, where analysis is currently taking place.

The project is approved by the Research Ethics Board of the Hospital for Sick Children and is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Department of Psychiatry, the Hospital for Sick Children, Endowment Fund.

We plan to present the results of data analyses at several scientific meetings and in scientifc journals after peer review. In no case will any specific individuals be identified. The principal investigators of this study are Dr. Russell Schachar, Dr. Paul Arnold, Dr. Jennifer Crosbie and Dr. Andrew Paterson.

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.

Recruitment Update

Where do we stand now?

We had a very busy summer at the Ontario Science Centre - in fact, 7024 kids and teens took part in our study! However, as followers of the blog may already know, our goal is to collect behavioural data and saliva samples from 10,000 children and teens.

What are our next steps?

Even though we didn't reach our goal, we're not discouraged. In fact, we will be back at the Science Centre on several dates through the months of September and October in order to collect more data and hopefully reach our goal of 10,000 participants.

When are we back at the Ontario Science Centre?

Spit for Science will be running on the following dates in 2009:

Saturday September 26
Sunday September 27

Saturday October 10
Sunday October 11

Monday October 12

Saturday October 17

Sunday October 18

Saturday October 24

Sunday October 25

Note: On Saturday September 26, the Science Centre is celebrating its 40th birthday -- this means free admission for all visitors

Interview with a TAG staff member - #3

It's time for our third and final interview with one of the TAG staff members. This time, we are learning from Laura Park what it's like to be involved with the project.

What are you taking in school? What year are you entering?

I am going into the last (4th) year of my undergraduate studies at the University of Toronto, and my program consists of a Psychology and Human Biology Double major with a Physiology minor.

What made you apply to be a research assistant for Spit for Science?

First of all, who doesn’t want to be a part of a team called Spit for Science? More importantly, as a science student, I have always had interest in scientific research, learning about it at school. This research assistant position is an excellent opportunity for a student like me to actually be a part of the real research process and work with other students from different universities who have similar interests.

What is your favourite part of the job?

I love seeing the different reactions from children and parents when we ask for their spit, but my favourite aspect of the job may be the fact that I get the opportunity to fulfill children’s curiosity in science, especially the topic of genes. We get to meet all sorts of personalities; shy kids who would turn around to spit so we won’t be able to see them, or some who are able to fill up the test tube with saliva in one shot. All of this combined with the ethnic diversity of visitors coming to the Ontario Science Centre everyday makes it a fascinating work environment.

Why are you interested in science?

I have always been interested in science because it explains the world around us. Everything we do in a day involves science; what we eat and how our body regulates it, how we cook our food, how we learn at school, how cars work, how the sun rises…..it’s endless. It’s fascinating because science explains all the mechanics behind what we take for granted in our everyday lives. Also, science is interesting because it is such a dynamic field. It is never static; there are always new scientific findings to explore.

What surprising thing have you learned about yourself so far this summer, or what new skill have you learned this summer?

I have always been afraid of giving speeches or presentations in front of a large group of people. However, by giving hot spot presentations about genes and the TAG project at the Ontario Science Centre, I have been able to overcome my stage fear. Also, not having any younger siblings, I didn’t have a lot of opportunities to interact with young children. I was surprised and excited to see my energy and enthusiasm, combined with that of other TAG team members contributing to the project - attracting and recruiting children and adolescents, helping them play the computer game, and encouraging them to salivate in all sorts of ways particularly through vivid descriptions of their favourite food!

Exciting news - over 6000 participants!

We are happy to report that we have had over 6000 kids and teens "Spit for Science!" As always, a big thank you to everyone who has participated so far.

Stay tuned for a first look at the data...

Our database manager and the investigators have been busy looking at the survey data collected from participants during the early stages of the study. Check back in the upcoming week or so for a first look at some of the findings!

Interview with a TAG staff member - #2

As mentioned in an earlier blog posting, we asked several staff members about their experiences working on the Spit for Science project, so that blog readers can learn more about what it's like to be involved in research and science. Our second interview is with Kayla Hamel.

What are you taking in school? What year are you entering?

I am going into 3rd year at McGill University and I'm studying psychology.

What made you apply to be a research assistant for Spit for Science?

I decided to apply for a research assistant position for Spit for Science because I wanted research experience in my field of interest, psychology, and this opportunity seemed especially perfect for me because I love kids!

What is your favourite part of the job?

My favourite part of the job is interacting with children and their families and getting them excited about science!

Why are you interested in science?

I love science because I love to learn about the way things work. Science teaches us so much about the real world and how it all works!

What surprising thing have you learned about yourself so far this summer, or what new skill have you learned this summer?

This job has taught me how to work as part of a team. University teaches you how to work independently, so this job was refreshing in that we worked as a group and all made unique contributions. In the future, I will feel much more comfortable working with new people and as a team player!