Anne Wyllie | Principal Investigator
Yale School of Public Health

As compared to the gold standard nasopharyngeal swab, Wyllie’s work has identified saliva as a reliable sample type for the sensitive detection of Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) in healthy individuals and more recently, during the COVID-19 pandemic response, for the detection of SARS-CoV-2. Improved detection of the pneumococcus has unveiled hidden reservoirs in older adults which holds importance when new vaccination strategies for preventing pneumococcal disease are being considered. For COVID-19, sampling saliva overcame many of the bottlenecks encountered in the mass testing strategies required to control outbreaks. In an effort to bring access to testing, Wyllie validated and optimized saliva for SARS-CoV-2 detection and developed SalivaDirect: a simple, scalable and importantly, cost-effective method to help alleviate SARS-CoV-2 testing demands. Wyllie’s research group at the Yale School of Public Health and her non-profit organization, SalivaDirect, Inc. remain devoted to advancing saliva diagnostics, providing public health guidance, and improving community health. She is currently working to expand the SalivaDirect assay for the detection of additional respiratory pathogens including influenza, RSV, and mpox virus. These low-cost, flexible PCR tests can be rapidly implemented for outbreak control or for sustainable community surveillance programs.