Spitting for Science: Danish High School Students Commit to a Large-Scale Self-Reported Genetic Study

PLoS One. 2016 Aug 29;11(8):e0161822. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0161822. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

Scientific outreach delivers science to the people. But it can also deliver people to the science. In this work, we report our experience from a large-scale public engagement project promoting genomic literacy among Danish high school students with the additional benefit of collecting data for studying the genetic makeup of the Danish population. Not only did we confirm that students have a great interest in their genetic past, but we were also gratified to see that, with the right motivation, adolescents can provide high-quality data for genetic studies.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Denmark
  • Female
  • Genomics / economics*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Science / education*
  • Self Report
  • Students / statistics & numerical data
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

This project and related research were supported from the National Lottery Funds (Danske Spil, granted to Prof. Peter C. Kjærgaard), The Danish Ministry of Education and the Centre for Biocultural History, Aarhus University. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection or analysis.