Students 'get swabbed' for stem cell registry

Students from the University of Prince Edward Island are encouraging people from a range of ethnic backgrounds to register as potential bone marrow donors to fill a growing gap in the national registry.

The school is competing against 24 other Canadian schools in the Get Swabbed campaign to gather the most potential stem cell donors in support of the OneMatch stem cell and marrow network.

"The registry for Canadian Blood Services, they're mostly Caucasian people in the registry and as you know Canada is a multicultural country so we are trying to bring different people from different ethnic backgrounds into this, especially First Nations because we have a low number of entries in our registry," said co-ordinator Amir Hosseinzadeh.

There are currently 927 Canadians waiting for stem cell transplants, usually patients with leukemia or lymphoma, and the odds are stacked against them finding a match outside their family.

Only a tiny number of people in the database will ever have the chance to donate stem cells, but transplants require a close match from a donor of the same ethnic background.

Students lined up on campus for cheek swabs on Thursday. Their DNA will then be sent to Canadian Blood Services to identify potential bone marrow donors.

Students said the general public is also invited to visit the campus for a cheek swab if they're interested in joining the bone marrow registry.