Researchers Have Used Toenail, Hair Samples At Harvard To Study 40 Different Diseases.

reports that Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health has “toenail clippings from more than 100,000 people – and a similar number of snips of hair from cut-off ponytails.” The Globe adds that “hair and toenails harbor hormones and trace elements like arsenic and selenium, so” researchers “can analyze them to get an average of the levels in your body over several months.” This “makes the envelopes full of clippings a gold mine for researchers, who have used the samples in at least 400 research projects studying 40 diseases.” http://www.statnews.com/2015/11/11/trove-of-toenails-stashed-in-freezers-could-hold-clues-for-cancer-research/