July 2017
Vials upon vials of frozen saliva -- from babies exposed to secondhand smoke, from military nurses in training, from captive cheetahs in the zoo -- are stored in the freezers at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Salivary Bioscience Research. The vials, and the lab, form the heart of the fast growing field of salivary research.
Scientists at the School of Social Ecology, across the University of California system and around the world are partnering with the lab to test saliva for markers that reveal stress levels, reproductive hormones, environmental chemicals and many other things.
"We’re studying from pregnancy to end of life," Douglas Granger, professor of psychology and social behavior, told the Orange County Register. "There’s a sense that there’s a great opportunity for discovery."