The researchers are looking for people who have compiled their family histories and are willing to donate DNA samples. "We're looking for people with the altruism gene," said Woodward, since there's no direct reward for doing it, except the satisfaction of helping people — and perhaps yourself — find answers. No direct personal information is given back. The database will not provide names for anyone after the 1900s, either. Which means you may learn you have a cousin in Ireland but not who it is. They admit it's a shame, because 90 percent of those they've asked would like their information available publicly. But it's a research privacy protection they honor.

Anyone who has done some genealogical research and would like to participate in the database can go online and request a mouthwash kit. There's no charge. You send back a signed consent form, your pedigree chart and the mouthwash sample in a postage-paid envelope.

Once it's received, the mouthwash is run through a centrifuge to spin out a pellet and purify the DNA. They break the cells open, degrade the proteins and purify the DNA with reagents. At the end of the process, it looks like water. And the sample can last a long time, because so little DNA is needed for different tests.

The ultimate goal is to run every DNA sample against 300 autosomal markers.

The entire project is overseen by an Institutional Review Board, just like a clinical trial.

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E-mail: lois@desnews.com