Sampling at Museum (IMAGE)

California Academy of Sciences

Sampling at Museum

Caption

Dr. Michelle Trautwein, senior author and curator of entomology at the California Academy of Sciences, samples face mites from guests at NightLife, the museum's weekly after-hours event for guests 18 and over. The 70 international study subjects, however, donated mites through a different process. For some subjects, intact mites were collected by drawing the curved end of a bobby pin across a participant's forehead; in others, metal laboratory spatulas were used to take samples that included a mix of hair and skin cells (including mites) from cheek and outer nose. The scientists then sequenced mite DNA to look at the mitochondrial DNA of each subject's mites.

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© California Academy of Sciences

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