CREAL collaborates in citizen science project 'Saca La Lengua'

Elisa Duran, Deputy Director General of the Foundation Bank "la Caixa", Luis Serrano, director of the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and Toni Gabaldon, head of the "Comparative Genomics" from the CRG and scientific coordinator of the project, presented this morning at the CosmoCaixa a pioneering project of citizen participation 'Saca La Lengua' in which CREAL has collaborated.

It is a scientific initiative driven by CRG and the Obra Social "la Caixa" that aims to discover the variety of microorganisms that live in our mouth, bacteria and fungi.

"The 'Saca La Lengua' aims to identify the variety of bacteria and fungi present in our oral microbiome and discover if this is subject to change something about the environment and, ultimately, to assess whether there is any relation with the disease" explains Toni Gabaldon, head of the "comparative Genomics" the CRG and scientific coordinator of the project.

For this, 2,000 saliva samples sequenced DNA fragments looking which are common in bacteria and fungi that allow the researchers to identify them. They sequenced more than 250 million bases thanks to a DNA sequencer that searches only fragments of bacteria and fungi and, in any case, analyzing the human genome that may contain samples.

Moreover, the study will include a set of complementary data on the habits, environmental characteristics and lifestyle of the participants for which the co-operation and 'know-how' of researchers from the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL) has been crucial.

More information at http://www.sacalalengua.org/.