The Bess Project
Researchers at Rutgers University are partnering with women across America to explore how lifestyle, environment, and physiological factors influence the vaginal microbiome.
No payment or compensation is offered for participation.
You may request a free report of your vaginal microbiome profile, once we sequence enough samples!
Fast Facts
Adult Female
Any race, ethnicity, age, and health status
Living in the US
Conducted Remotely
Study Background
Join our citizen-science project exploring the vaginal microbiome!
The Bess Project is a study looking at the vaginal microbiome in women from all over the United States.
Your vagina has its own microbiome, which is a community of tiny organisms (like bacteria) that can impact your health. When this balance is off, it can raise the risk of problems like infections, STDs, preterm labor, infertility, and even cervical cancer. Our research is trying to learn more about the vaginal microbiome so we can find better ways to protect women’s health.
Any woman living in the U.S. can join. Participants will sign an online consent form, answer a short survey, collect their own sample with a swab, and mail it back in a prepaid envelope we provide.
By joining, you’ll help researchers better understand how the vaginal microbiome affects women’s health at different ages and life stages. Together, we can grow knowledge and improve health for future generations.
Study Background
Join our citizen-science project exploring the vaginal microbiome!
The Bess Project is a study looking at the vaginal microbiome in women from all over the United States.
Your vagina has its own microbiome, which is a community of tiny organisms (like bacteria) that can impact your health. When this balance is off, it can raise the risk of problems like infections, STDs, preterm labor, infertility, and even cervical cancer. Our research is trying to learn more about the vaginal microbiome so we can find better ways to protect women’s health.
Any woman living in the U.S. can join. Participants will sign an online consent form, answer a short survey, collect their own sample with a swab, and mail it back in a prepaid envelope we provide.
By joining, you’ll help researchers better understand how the vaginal microbiome affects women’s health at different ages and life stages. Together, we can grow knowledge and improve health for future generations.
Additional Information
We want to understand how the vaginal microbiome connects to lifestyle and health factors like age, menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and medical conditions.
We also want to study how the vaginal microbiome changes over time and see whether it is similar between family members, like mothers, daughters, and grandmothers.
We are part of a global-sisterhood called the “ISALA Sisters Network”. The Bess Project is a sister project to the original ISALA study, who successfully recruited over 6,000 participants to self-swab their vaginal microbiota in Belgium.
The ISALA Sister Network includes many other countries/regions, and each sister project is named after a prominent female scientist or physician from their respective communities. This project is named after Elizabeth Blackwell (whose nickname was Bess), the first woman to earn a medical degree in the U.S.
Any female over 18 currently residing in the U.S. is eligible to participate! No matter your race, ethnicity, health status, or medical condition, you are invited to be part of The Bess Project.
Your participation involves three steps: signing a consent form, completing a survey, and collecting a vaginal sample. Everything can be done at home. Joining is completely voluntary, and you can stop at any time. All your responses are private and confidential.
Part 1: Survey
After you sign our consent form online through DocuSign, we will email you a copy of the signed form. You will also get a unique Study ID that does not include any personal information, along with a link to our online survey on Qualtrics. The survey takes about 30 minutes to complete.
Once you finish the survey, we will email you to confirm we received your responses. At that time, we will also let you know that your sampling kit has been mailed to the address you provided.
Part 2: Sample
You will collect a vaginal sample yourself at home or any location you feel comfortable. The sampling kit includes everything you need. After collecting your sample, you simply send it back using the pre-paid return envelope.
Once we receive your sample, we will email you to confirm it arrived safely. You will also have the option to provide additional samples over time (for example, every month, every three months, or during pregnancy). After we have sequenced enough samples, you can request a free personalized report showing your vaginal microbiome for each sample you contributed.
We do not offer payment for participation in this study.
There is no cost for you to participate in our research study.