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Center For Salivary Diagnostics Could 'Revolutionize' Health Care Landscape

CAMBRIDGE (CBS) - There was a ribbon cutting ceremony in Cambridge at the Forsyth Institute's new Center for Salivary Diagnostics. WBZ NewsRadio's Mary Blake reports the research there is cutting edge.

Dr. Phil Stashenko, President and CEO of the Forsyth Institute, says the institute partnered with the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, obtaining a $4.2 million development grant.

He says over the past year, they have built out some core facilities and renovated space in their Cambridge research facility. He predicts the work there will be groundbreaking

"We think that the center has the potential to revolutionize the health care landscape by creating new opportunities for early disease prevention and detection," Dr. Stashenko said.

"The mouth is the portal to the body and saliva contains all the same diagnostic information as blood."

Dr. Stashenko says diabetes and pre-diabetes are major projects right now. "Saliva could be a great way to screen the population for type 2 diabetes," Dr. Stashenko said.

"We're also working on infectious diseases like active tuberculosis, which is more relevant to global populations, but also Lyme disease and also to monitor concussions in athletes."

The Mass. Life Sciences Center funded the infrastructure which is devoted to discovering bio-markers, markers of disease or disability in saliva.

For the first 100 years, the Forsyth Institute was housed in the Fenway area and moved to Kendall Square in 2010. They are considered a leader in oral health research.

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