Follow Up: Spit for Science aims for ‘full transparency’

Mechelle Hankerson
News Editor

In other parts of the country, colleges attempting to implement different types of DNA testing and analysis have been running into trouble, but VCU’s Spit for Science study has been prepared to avoid such controversy.

The study is still in its early stages, and has a high rate of student participation, according to Danielle Dick, VCU associate professor of psychiatry, psychology and human and molecular genetics and coordinator of the study.

“This is actually a study in which we have scientific aim,” Dick said. “We’re trying to understand influences on substance use and emotional health and use the results in a way that will feedback and benefit the university.”

At University of California at Berkeley, freshmen could choose to be a part of a special program that involved the voluntary donation of their DNA. UC Berkeley’s program, however, was cut short when California courts ruled that they couldn’t continue.

Titled “Bring Your Genes to Cal,” the program allowed incoming freshmen to give their DNA to be tested for their metabolism of folate, lactose tolerance and metabolism of alcohol.  The DNA collected at Berkeley was used to provide individual student results.

The state of California eventually ruled that the “Bring Your Genes to Cal” program was providing medical tests, which is illegal in the state except for in a clinical setting.

“The Berkeley study was just a shared freshman experience,” Dick said. “They were providing individual feedback to the students, and that was something we’ve been very specific that we’re not going to do.”

Dick said she hopes Spit for Science can be a shared experience for participating freshmen, but the primary goal of the study is to provide scientific data.

At VCU, Spit For Science is using students’ DNA, but students never find out about individual results. As soon as students complete either part of the study (the survey or the DNA), they are assigned a random number, which becomes the way for researchers to identify each component. Students never find out their identification number, and researchers don’t know the name attached to a given number.

Dick said she prepared for the launch of the study for about a year before beginning this summer.

She said she and Dr. Kenneth Kendler, director of the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics at VCU and the other coordinator of the study, met with multiple leaders at the university and created student focus groups. The study also hosts monthly forums where they discuss different topics related to the study.

“I really think that’s … key,” Dick said. “Full transparency to the students about what we’re trying to do.”

Dick said she hopes to present preliminary findings of the study at the November forum.