Oragene

Oragene is a device that permits self-collection of genomic DNA from saliva. Oragene first became available to the research community in 2004 [1]. It is used by molecular epidemiologists whose research requires large amounts of DNA from a very large number of donors.^{[citation needed]} The simplicity of collection^{[citation needed]} and the stability of the DNA at room temperature for several years^{[citation needed]} allows DNA collections to be handled entirely by mail. The amount of DNA recovered is comparable to the amount present in 2 millilitres of whole blood.^{[citation needed]} The kit is used by the 23andMe service.^{[citation needed]}

The inventor of Oragene is H. Chaim Birnboim, whose 1979 'Citation Classic' paper in Nucleic Acids Research described the widely used method of alkaline extraction for plasmid DNA from bacteria. Oragene is manufactured by DNA Genotek. The brand name "Oragene" was created by Leala Hewak.