Hopkins Trains Researchers in Saliva Analysis
Each year more than 11 million children and adults go to camp—horseback-riding camp, weight-loss camp, band camp, even technology camp. The latest trend? Spit Camp, where researchers are trained in saliva analysis.
“‘Spit campers get right to it,” says Douglas A. Granger, PhD, creator and director of the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing Center for Inter-disciplinary Salivary Bioscience Research (CISBR). “Under careful supervision, they put on lab coats, collect specimens, and learn the assay procedures, and practice the interpretation of saliva results.”
In bimonthly two-day workshops, Granger and CISBR staff teach about saliva as a biological specimen, saliva collection, the basics of saliva assay, and tips for writing grant proposals, designing studies, and analyzing data. The workshop is designed for graduate students, post-doctoral scholars and fellows, and faculty without biology training.
For more information, visit www.nursing.jhu.edu/spitcamp.
