EPISODE 3

Testing, Testing HPV

Dr. Aisha Lofters, Clinician Scientist, Women's College Hospital ; Christina Price, Retired

IN THIS EPISODE

How genomics is shaping the future of cervical cancer screening

[Content Warning: This episode mentions sexual assault and medical trauma.]

Nearly 80% of people will get Human Papillomavirus (HPV) at some point in their lives. Even though HPV is super common, the symptoms are often subtle or invisible and can sometimes lead to cervical cancer if left undetected. But thanks to new government initiatives like British Columbia’s (BC) self-screening program, cancer testing is levelling up.

In this episode, BC resident Christina Price shares how an easy at-home HPV test helped her catch cancer early. Then, Dr. Aisha Lofters debunks persistent myths about HPV, and explains how these test kits are making screening more accessible, comfortable, and equitable. Join host Dr. Kaylee Byers to find out how this genomic tool is empowering people to take their healthcare into their own hands (literally!), and getting us closer to eliminating cervical cancer for good.

If you, or someone you know needs support, you can call 1-800-563-0808 or find Canada-wide resources right here.

HIGHLIGHTS

(4:25)

Christina talks about the steps that happen after receiving her result from the at home testing kit.

(8:09)

Dr. Lofters explains what HPV is, the symptoms and what differentiates different strains of HPV.

(15:54)

Dr. Lofters explains the two different methods for HPV screening

(19:30)

Dr. Lofters talk about some of the inequities and social barriers people face when finding and accessing healthcare.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00:00

Kaylee Byers: Hey. It’s Kaylee. Before we jump into today’s episode, I wanted to give you a quick heads up. Today we’ll be talking about HPV and cervical cancer, and as part of that story, we’re going to raise issues of sexual assault and medical trauma. So if this isn’t in your wheelhouse for today, hit pause and come back if and when you’re ready.

 

00:00:20

Announcer: Testing, testing, testing HPV. We are rolling.

 

00:00:25

Kaylee Byers: What if the next big step towards beating cancer could start right in your mailbox? Well, the province of British Columbia is making that a reality.

READ TRANSCRIPT

00:00:35

Christina Price: My name is Christina Price. I am a single mom living a retired life. I’m enjoying my gardens, and I just take it easy here. There’s really not much to tell.

 

00:00:47

Kaylee Byers: Christina Price lives in Port Alberni, British Columbia. She paints a peaceful picture, but recently she had a bit of a health scare.

 

00:00:56

Christina Price: I never felt ill per se, but I noticed my discharge was different.

 

00:01:02

Kaylee Byers: Christina noticed that she was experiencing some changes down there. It wasn’t anything too alarming in her mind. Still something felt off.

 

00:01:15

Christina Price: So I did talk to my doctor about it, and it was still a safe change. So we talked about I was turning 50 and menopause is on my horizon and my body’s going through changes, and it wasn’t a scheduled time to have my Pap smear. So we discussed the options and decided that I would wait for a year and then would do the regular examination and just go from there.

 

00:01:45

Kaylee Byers: With no real indication that anything was really wrong, the consensus they came to was to wait until Christina’s next Pap test, but after leaving the appointment, there was a voice in Christina’s mind telling her maybe that wasn’t enough.

 

00:02:00

Christina Price: I don’t want to diss my doctor because he’s wonderful and I love him. But truthfully, I did come out of the office with still concerns and what it could be because I didn’t leave with an answer. So one day I was flipping through Facebook, and an ad came up for BC Cancer saying that they’re doing this pilot project for self-home screening, and I thought, “Well, that’s intriguing. Why not?”

 

00:02:31

Kaylee Byers: You are listening to Nice Genes!, the podcast that brings cutting-edge science right to your doorstep, brought to you by Genome British Columbia. I’m your host, Dr. Kaylee Byers, your personal courier for the latest genomic updates.

 

HPV or Human Papillomavirus is a sexually transmitted disease that in some cases can lead to certain cancers. For people with a cervix, we’ve typically relied on what we call a Pap test as our go-to way test for HPV. It involves going into your doctor’s office every three years or so to sample some cells from your cervix. But this method of testing is shifting in really exciting ways.

 

Earlier this year, the BC government rolled out a pilot program for at home HPV Self-screening kits. Now, instead of making a trip to the doctor, you can take an HPV test yourself in the comfort of your own home, which is exactly what Christina Price did after she saw the ad for the program on Facebook. With nothing to lose, Christina ordered a test and a couple of weeks later, it arrived in the mail. So when you did get the take-home test, how difficult was it to take the test yourself?

 

00:03:41

Christina Price: Not at all, actually. It was really easy to do. They did a really good job at illustrating exactly what you have to do. You pull the instrument a certain way and there’s a line there, so you can only insert it so far as your finger.

 

00:03:59

Kaylee Byers: It might be a little tricky to visualize what these at-home tests look like, but those COVID tests we’ve all shoved up our noses? It’s like that. Same, same but different spot.

 

00:04:10

Christina Price: And completely private. I was in my bathroom, there wasn’t the doctor and a nurse that comes in. It wasn’t awkward at all.

 

00:04:20

Kaylee Byers: Once Christina took the test and shipped it off to the lab, she got on with the day-to-day and forgot about it. Until a few months later, her phone rang.

 

00:04:30

Christina Price: I received a call from a gynecologist saying, “Well, we want to schedule a colposcopy.” And I said, “Well, what’s a colposcopy and what is it for?”

 

00:04:41

Kaylee Byers: What is that?

 

00:04:43

Christina Price: And they said, “Well, we’ve received the test results from your examination and we wanted to have a look at your cervix and see that everything’s okay, maybe take a biopsy.” And then shortly after that, I did receive the letter from the cancer agency with the results.

 

00:05:00

Kaylee Byers: The results showed that Christina had tested positive for HPV but she stayed calm.

 

00:05:05

Christina Price: All of the staff involved, they were just all so very supportive and helpful, walking me through the steps of what needed to be taken and just keeping me well-informed. They weren’t overly technical about it. So I went for the colposcopy, which is very similar to a colonoscopy where they examine your cervix with a camera, which I found personally to be quite interesting because you could see on the TV screen exactly what the doctor was seeing, and I just found it quite intriguing. But there was some concerning spots that he was worried about, and he took a couple biopsies of some areas, and then that was it.

 

00:05:50

Kaylee Byers: After the colposcopy, Christina had to do another test called a LEEP procedure that removes abnormal cells from the cervix. Once she’d finished with the tests, the waiting game was back on, but luckily not for very long.

 

00:06:05

Christina Price: I received a call like a week and a half or so after I saw him. So then of course, my heart just drops. Oh my God, it’s bad. And he’s like, “Well, yes and no.” Yes, it was cancer that they removed, but the margins were clear. So there was no sign that anything was left behind.

 

00:06:29

Kaylee Byers: How did you feel after your doctor called and was like, “Listen, yes, it was cancer, but it looks pretty good,” after knowing that the treatment sounded like it had been successful?

 

00:06:38

Christina Price: Mixed emotions. Obvious joy, but scared at the same time because it actually was cancer. But I was just really proud of myself to have had taken that step of ordering the kit and doing the test, and as a result cured me of cancer. So it was like a heartfelt as well. There’s so many different emotions. I don’t even know what the words are to describe them.

 

00:07:10

Kaylee Byers: Thankfully, Christina’s story had a happy ending. This quick, convenient, and did I mention free test helped her catch her cervical cancer early. If she’d waited for her next scheduled Pap test a year later, we don’t know what the situation would’ve been. Christina’s experience shows us how easy and important these tests are, but to understand why these are such a game changer, we need to talk about HPV and the whole suite of misconceptions floating around about it.

 

00:07:38

Aisha Lofters: Many, many, many girls get their HPV virus from boys. Wow. I’m Dr. Aisha Lofters. My pronouns are she/ her. I’m a clinician scientist at Women’s College Hospital and at the University of Toronto and a practicing family physician.

 

00:07:55

Kaylee Byers: Dr. Lofters specializes in patient centered care and does research on cervical cancer. So let’s get into the science of Human Papillomavirus. Tell us a little bit about Human Papilloma… How embarrassing. Try saying that five times fast. It’s a mouthful.

 

00:08:13

Aisha Lofters: So Human Papillomavirus, and it is a mouthful, so we typically call it HPV, is a virus that is sexually transmitted. So this can be through penile vaginal sexual intercourse, but also through any type of sexual activity, anal, oral, even with sex toys. And it’s actually a very, very common virus. So I’ve seen estimates that up to 80% of people at some point in their life will have HPV. So for something so common, people might wonder how come they’ve never heard of it or don’t know much about it. And that’s because of most of the time, HPV is silent. So you’ll have no symptoms and your body will clear it on its own.

 

In a small proportion of cases, you can end up with genital warts. That’s one group of HPV viruses will give you genital awards, and then another group, what we call high-risk HPV, can increase your chances of developing cervical cancer down the road.

 

00:09:02

Kaylee Byers: And you just talked about how common it is and these different ways in which HPV can present. So how many different types of HPV are there?

 

00:09:12

Aisha Lofters: Lots is the short answer. There’s lots and lots of different types of HPVs, different strains. We really focus on the high-risk strains. So those that, like I said, increase your chances of developing cervical cancer or anal cancer. So people might’ve heard of HPV-16, HPV-18, there are some others with members in the 30s. You may have heard of the HPV vaccine. Those are vaccines against the higher-risk strains, and I think there’s up to nine different strains in some of the vaccines that are out there for HPV.

 

00:09:42

Kaylee Byers: Great. So there’s many more than just those nine. But that’s what we’ve got in terms of working with vaccines. We’ve got about nine strains.

 

00:09:48

Aisha Lofters: Exactly. It’s about focusing on the ones that can cause harm down the road.

 

00:09:51

Kaylee Byers: Have you seen a real push also across sex, gender, like for everyone to get these vaccines?

 

00:09:58

Aisha Lofters: Yeah. So I’m so glad you raised that point. And when the HPV vaccines first came out in many places, they were originally just for girls. Many, many, many girls get their HPV virus from boys. And some boys get HPV from girls or other boys. So this idea that women’s health issues are only women’s problem, I think is another myth that I would really love to debunk. Women and girls are about half of our population. So it’s not just some trivial side issue. It’s something for everyone to be involved with and to care about.

 

00:10:36

Kaylee Byers: So just to clarify, how many different cancers can arise from HPV or is cervical cancer the big one that we think about?

 

00:10:42

Aisha Lofters: Cervical cancer is definitely the big one that we think about. Typically, it can also cause anal cancer, it can cause oral cancers. So again, when you think about sexual activity, basically any body part that can be involved, but cervical cancer is probably the one that gets the most attention.

 

00:10:58

Kaylee Byers: How long might that process take from first coming into contact with HPV to developing cervical cancer or anal cancers or oral cancers?

 

00:11:07

Aisha Lofters: So one of the good things about HPV is that it’s actually a pretty slow process. This process of going from exposure to HPV to developing into a cancer, the period of time from exposure to the virus to developing a cancer is so long, and it does tend to be a very slow process.

 

00:11:24

Kaylee Byers: Okay. Very cool. Well, as cool as cervical cancer can be, I guess. Cervical cancer I think it’s quite common. I think it’s the fourth most common cancer for people who have a cervix. But how preventable is it?

 

00:11:43

Aisha Lofters: I’ll use the word cool because a researcher. To me, one of the really cool things about cervical cancer is that it’s actually a cancer that can be eliminated because of this really tight association between HPV and cervical cancer, that if we can essentially eliminate the virus or eliminate the high risk strains, we can eliminate this type of cancer. And the two ways that we can do that are through vaccination. Then the other way is to screen, so that if you are exposed to the virus, that we’re catching it early and that we’re taking the steps that we need. So there’s also a push globally and in Canada to making sure that we’re screening everyone, not leaving certain groups behind.

 

00:12:20

Kaylee Byers: I want to talk more about screening and the different forms of testing in a second. But before we move on, are there other misconceptions about HPV at all?

 

00:12:29

Aisha Lofters: There’s several. HPV is directly associated with sexual activity. So I think once that comes into play, there becomes lots of issues around stigma, around promiscuity, around who is and isn’t susceptible. But we always try to emphasize that anyone who has participated in any type of sexual activity, even if just once, you are theoretically at risk of HPV exposure.

 

So, getting the HPV vaccine doesn’t mean that now your child is going to become promiscuous or going to become sexually active the next day and being screened for cervical cancer, same thing, doesn’t mean that you’re promiscuous and had lots of partners. It’s really just that we have to make sure that we’re capturing everybody at risk. But I think that’s probably one of the biggest misconceptions that I see is people thinking, “I only have one partner, or I haven’t had sex in a year,” or things like that, and I feel like it’s not for them. That’s actually not at all the case.

 

00:13:20

Kaylee Byers: As Dr. Lofters has pointed out, there are a lot of myths and misconceptions when it comes to HPV, and this plays into misconceptions about sex. A friendly reminder that sex has many shapes and many forms, and so exposure to HPV can occur in lots of different ways. Wash your toys, folks.

 

Now that we’re armed with the facts, when we come back, we’re going to swab a bit deeper into how testing is giving screening a whole new meaning. You are listening to Nice Genes!, a podcast all about the fascinating world of genomics and the evolving science behind it, brought to you by Genome British Columbia. I’m Dr. Kaylee Byers, your host, and we want to get more people to listen to the genomic stories that are shaping our world. So if you like Nice Genes!, hit follow on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your shows. If this episode gets your stamp of approval, ship it to your faith pen pals and spread the word.

 

As we’ve mentioned, Pap tests have historically been what we rely on for HPV testing. People with a cervix are recommended to get a Pap test every three years. And even though you don’t have to do it super often, it isn’t something people generally look forward to. You go in, drop trowel, lie back on a table, stick your legs in some stirrups, spread them, and then the doctor inserts a swab into the vagina to grab a sample.

 

Now, I’m no shrinking violet, but even I get a little anxious when I go in for a Pap. It’s a vulnerable position. Let’s talk about testing. Why do you think it’s common to hear about folks dreading going in for something like a Pap test?

 

00:14:58

Aisha Lofters: So the Pap test, for those both who haven’t haven’t experienced it, it’s a pretty unique procedure. You have to get into this relatively vulnerable position. You have to take off all your clothes, or at least from the waist down in the doctor’s office. Often you’re putting your feet up in these stirrups and then having a speculum inserted, and then a little broom is inserted after that and a sample is taken. So I think for many people it’s not super comfortable depending on levels of modesty and privacy. I don’t know anybody who’s enthusiastic about having a Pap test.

 

00:15:26

Kaylee Byers: Like I can’t wait to go back in. Luckily in recent years, we’ve been moving away from Paps and doctors have been using HPV specific screening. People sometimes use the two types of tests interchangeably, but they’re not the same thing. So what’s the difference?

 

00:15:42

Aisha Lofters: So there are two ways to do the HPV screening. Now with a Pap test, there’s one way to do it, which we just talked about here on the exam bed in the doctor’s office. With HPV screening, there’s two ways to do it. One is the exact same. So a clinician, family physician, nurse practitioner collects a test essentially the exact same way. But what’s really exciting with HPV is that there’s another way to do it, which is self-collection, meaning the person can insert a swab into the vagina, Q-tip size on their own, the privacy of their own home or in the bathroom at the doctor’s office, and that can be a game changer.

 

00:16:15

Kaylee Byers: And are these things testing different things? Is there a difference in what you’re actually testing for?

 

00:16:19

Aisha Lofters: It’s a great question. So with the HPV test, you’re testing for HPV, so you’re looking to see is the actual virus there. What happens when you have the virus, if it’s going to progress, is that eventually over time your cells start to change. They start to go from normal to starting to look what we call atypical, and then they start to become more and more abnormal. With the Pap test, that’s what you’re looking for is those abnormal cells.

 

The main reason why the HPV test is more accurate than the Pap test is because you’re catching basically step one. So step one is having the virus, and then down the road, step two is your cells start to change. So there’s much more power in a negative HPV test and a negative Pap test.

 

00:16:57

Kaylee Byers: And even with the HPV, you’re probably using genomics to look at the strain it is that you’re looking at?

 

00:17:03

Aisha Lofters: Exactly. With the HPV test, we’re really looking for the actual DNA of the HPV, so the actual DNA of the virus, and specifically we’re looking for the high risk strains of HPV. As opposed to with the Pap test, where a pathologist is looking under a microscope and seeing are there any abnormal cells here in this sample.

 

00:17:23

Kaylee Byers: Genomics hotline. Hey, Genomics. Kaylee, again. Hi. I didn’t know you had our new number. I just wanted to call and say you done it again. Big old thank you from me and the people. Pretty fab of you to improve this whole process and revolutionize HPV screening. Thanks, Kaylee. Okay. Well, cool, cool, cool. Just call him and let you know I’m your biggest fan. Okay. Love you. Bye. I’m sure we’ll be hearing from you soon. When did these first become available? When did we have this new innovation and how we test for HPV?

 

00:17:56

Aisha Lofters: HPV testing has been around for a while, and even self-collection has been around for a while. I’ve been researching it for many years. I can’t even put it up on it, many years. I will say, as I think we all know, innovation can take a while to trickle down from a brand new innovation to becoming part of practice.

HPV self-collection has been broadly implemented in Australia, in certain countries in Europe, even countries in South America. And now finally, we are seeing it in BC and I believe in PEI. I do think Ontario is going to be following very soon, but it can take, as we all know, years and years for these innovations to trickle into practice. And I mean, we do want to make sure that there’s strong evidence that we’re understanding the efficacy, also acceptability, feasibility, implementation, all of those pieces. It might be brand new to the public, but certainly it’s been around for a while and lots and lots of strong supporting research to back up this switch from Pap testing to HPV, and lots and lots of great research to support the use of self-collection for those who want it.

 

00:18:52

Kaylee Byers: We often think of important medical advancements as these big flashy innovations, but something as simple as a self-testing HPV screening kit can make a huge difference. Not only are these tests using a more effective way of screening than a Pap test, they’re also making medical care more accessible and equitable. So let’s get into that. So what are some of the social barriers in inequities that certain groups of people face that make it more challenging to seek routine medical care?

 

00:19:24

Aisha Lofters: There’s lots. So there can be very practical issues. So things like do you have to take two to three buses to get to your doctor’s office? Backing up from that, do you have a family doctor?

 

00:19:33

Kaylee Byers: I just got one after 10 years of being in Vancouver, I felt like I should have a party.

 

00:19:39

Aisha Lofters: Exactly. And that’s becoming more and more of a pressing issue is that a lot of people don’t have access to primary care. So there are many people who use walk-in clinics for their care. And a walk-in clinic is typically not the place where you’re going to be thinking about prevention.

 

So there’s, first of all, do you have a family doctor? And then there’s what does it take to go to your family doctor? Do you have to take time off work? Do you have to take multiple buses? Do you have to either bring your child with you or find someone to take care of your child? When can you get an appointment at your family doctor? Like if you call, is your next appointment going to be in six weeks? Does your family doctor allow for more than one issue at a particular visit? So for a lot of people, there’s the access to the family doctor and competing priorities. So if you’re struggling with a chronic illness or if it’s really challenging to go to your doctor, for a lot of people, they don’t focus on prevention when they go, they focus on dealing with acute issues. That’s one big barrier that we see. Then there’s also issues about trust.

 

For a lot of people, if they’ve had bad experiences, again, if when they do see their doctor, they’re not feeling that they’re being listened to, they’re not feeling that their doctor understands them or respects them, they might not rush to that doctor unless they absolutely have to. And then when it comes to cervical screening, do you even know what that is? There’s lots of people who don’t know what cervical screening is. There’s lots of people who don’t know what a cervix is. And if your doctor’s not offering it up to you, do you know to say, “Okay, you know what? It’s been X number of years, it’s time for me to have my test done again.” So we’ve got lots and lots of issues in the system that we’ve got to address.

 

00:21:03

Kaylee Byers: As we talked about earlier, going into your doctor’s office for a Pap or a cervical screening test is not necessarily enjoyable. But for a lot of people, it’s unfortunately a lot harder than just something you’re not looking forward to. It can be traumatic.

 

00:21:17

Aisha Lofters: There are some people who it’s more than just uncomfortable. There are some people who it’s really, really triggering and upsetting. So people who’ve had a history of sexual abuse or sexual trauma, other types of physical trauma, not all doctors do a really good job of making people feel comfortable. Having a male provider for some people can just be an absolute no-go.

 

The test can be, especially if you’re quite nervous and you’re tensing up, then that makes a test more uncomfortable. For people who are trans or non-binary, it can actually be a very gender disaffirming test. Like if you don’t see yourself as a woman and then to be put in this very woman associated position can be really uncomfortable. So there’s a lot of factors I think with the Pap test that for a lot of people it’s uncomfortable, but for some people it’s really, really triggering and upsetting. That’s where self-collection is really, really exciting because then the power is back in the hands of the patients literally. Even if the person is really taking a trauma-informed approach and being slow and gentle, it is still someone else inserting something into your body.

 

Whereas with self-collection, it is you. You choose what time you do it. You choose how slow you go, and the power really goes back into your hands. And that think that matters so much in a variety of spheres, but especially in healthcare where often things are happening to you and this is a chance for you to do it yourself. People do worry about, “Am I getting a good enough sample?” But the tests are actually designed to be very straightforward to do, but I think it’s really about giving people the power back in their hands to be able to do these tests themselves.

 

00:22:39

Kaylee Byers: Yeah. It’s so exciting to me. I feel like there’s so much potential here, but I’m sure that there’s still some hurdles. So what are some of the challenges that these at-home HPV tests are going to face in order to roll them out at a larger scale in a country like Canada?

 

00:22:54

Aisha Lofters: So there’s very practical implications like, if you mail out a self-collection kit to everyone who’s eligible, a lot of those are never going to get used. Just because people are busy or they still don’t think that know they need this test or they lose it. So there’s cost issues involved with that. And if you’re not getting a significant proportion of them back there is still figuring out what is the best way? Is it best to mail it to you, and then you decide if you want to use it? Do I mail you a letter and then tell you to order one if you want it? But that’s an extra step. Is it best that you still come in, but I let you go into the bathroom at the doctor’s office and use it? So I think really figuring out implementation is the best way.

 

Second, not everyone wants to do these. Some people think, you know what? I want to know the test was done properly. So I want my clinician to do the test so that I can really trust in the results. And then a third very practical issue is if that test is positive or abnormal, now you do actually have to come in and have a speculum exam done. So for somebody who says, “No way am I ever going to do the speculum exam, but I’ll do the salt collection,” we have to be very transparent that if there’s an abnormality, there will have to be future steps. I think that’s something that needs to really be made clear to people.

 

00:24:05

Kaylee Byers: So I think the World Health Organization has this goal to eliminate cervical cancer by the end of the century. And Canada’s committed to reach that by 2040. What are your thoughts? Are you hopeful? Do you think we’re going to make it?

 

00:24:19

Aisha Lofters: I am hopeful, and I hope that doesn’t sound pollyannaish, but I think the fact that we’ve now seen BC do this, BC is a very large and populous and diverse province. As I said, I’m very hopeful that Ontario will soon be following. I think as long as there is political will, there is public support and there are national networks, I do think that it can happen. And I think we are getting to that place. And now that we’ve got this self-collection option, I think it’s really for us to just spread the word about these two options, to destigmatize HPV and to push our government leaders to put support behind these screening programs.

 

00:24:54

Kaylee Byers: With these self-screening tools, we are making strides towards eradicating cervical cancer, which is preventable. And as Dr. Lofters just highlighted, it’s up to our leaders to step up and ensure these options are accessible and equitable for everyone. But even with all the progress we’ve made in medicine, there’s still a really troubling history of people’s health concerns being ignored or brushed off due to factors like sex, gender, or race. And sometimes, you really have to become your own advocate, but that can be super empowering when you’ve got the right tools and info. Christina Price learned this firsthand.

 

00:25:30

Christina Price: Think we’re conditioned to suck it up buttercup. I’m a woman and that’s what happens and stop being so sensitive about my changing body or whatever. But to have a hysterectomy, that’s not a little thing. That’s major. The treatments for cancer are major. So if there’s a way that women or people with a cervix are able to take charge of that by taking this test and knowing what their levels are, if they have any HPV, it’s almost liberating in a way because like you’re taking charge of your health, generally speaking, it’s still very taboo to talk about periods and cramping and examinations and cervix and all of that private stuff. And it’s okay that women have sex.

 

00:26:30

Kaylee Byers: Yes, amen.

 

00:26:31

Christina Price: It’s got to put that out there to the universe. It’s okay. You’re not bad. It’s healthy and natural. And that’s why we were given these parts to begin with.

 

00:26:41

Kaylee Byers: Yeah, you got them. Enjoy them.

 

00:26:43

Christina Price: And I’m straight.

 

00:26:52

Kaylee Byers: Our guests for today were physician and clinical scientists, Dr. Aisha Lofters and Christina Price. You’ve been listening to Nice Genes!, a podcast brought to you by Genome British Columbia. If you like this episode, go check out some of our previous ones wherever you listen from. Share us with your friends and leave us a review. You can also DM the show on social media by going to @GenomeBC, and if you’re listening with kiddos or a teacher looking to spice up your lessons, we have learn along activity sheets added to the show description of each episode. Tune in next time as we explore the seductive dance of fireflies, but don’t be dazzled by their flickering lights. There’s a devious firefly diva with a few tricks up her sleeve.

 

00:27:34

Christina Price: She is not interested in sexy time. She is interested in dinner.

 

00:27:39

Kaylee Byers: A girl’s got to eat. Am I right? Thank you HP very much for listening. We’ll be back in two weeks to cervix you up some more science.

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