(Courtesy of Rutgers Hillel) More than 50 students turned out to get screened for Jewish genetic diseases at Rutgers Hillel earlier this month. The event was organized by Rutgers student Dena Winchester and JScreen, a national non-profit, community-based public health initiative dedicated to education and carrier screening for Jewish and other genetic diseases. JScreen offers testing for genetic diseases on DNA from saliva samples that can be collected at home and then sent to the testing lab. The program has an expanded screening panel that tests for more than 200 diseases, a significant development from a generation ago. Headquartered in Atlanta at Emory University School of Medicine’s Department of Human Genetics, the JScreen initiative is a collaboration among clinical geneticists, socially minded businesses and nonprofits to provide everyday people with a ready access point to cutting-edge genetic testing technology, patient education and genetic counseling services. If you are interested in getting screened, visit www.JScreen.org.

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