New imp @medrxivpreprint by @awylie13 @IsabelOtt and team showing 'SARS-CoV-2 RNA in saliva from infected individuals stable at 4°C, room temp (~19°C), and 30°C for prolonged periods and found limited evidence for viral replication in saliva.’ medrxiv.org/content/10.110… @YaleMed 
@medrxivpreprint @IsabelOtt @YaleMed Why is this important? 'This work demonstrates expensive saliva collection options involving RNA stabilization & virus inactivation buffers are not always needed, permitting the use of cheaper collection options.’ Congrats to this team. Including @NathanGrubaugh @VirusesImmunity
@medrxivpreprint @IsabelOtt @YaleMed @NathanGrubaugh @VirusesImmunity Builds on this @medrxivpreprint by this team: 'our findings demonstrate that saliva is viable and more sensitive alternative to nasopharyngeal swabs and could enable at-home self-administered sample collection for accurate large-scale SARS-CoV-2 testing.’ medrxiv.org/content/10.110…
@medrxivpreprint @IsabelOtt @YaleMed @NathanGrubaugh @VirusesImmunity What they found.. 'Our results suggest that saliva may also be an appropriate, and perhaps more sensitive, alternative to nasopharyngeal swabs for screening asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections.’ @YaleSPH
@medrxivpreprint @IsabelOtt @YaleMed @NathanGrubaugh @VirusesImmunity @YaleSPH And it builds from this @medrxivpreprint that may be the key to addressing our testing woes. 'Being flexible & inexpensive ($1.29-$4.37/sample), SalivaDirect is viable & accessible option to help alleviate SARS-CoV-2 testing demands.’ Awaiting @US_FDA EUA. medrxiv.org/content/10.110…
@medrxivpreprint @IsabelOtt @YaleMed @NathanGrubaugh @VirusesImmunity @YaleSPH @US_FDA And kudos to @NBA for their participation and support of the research that is delivering the evidence to support SalivaDirect. Incredible effort to speed the development. Key assist by @robbysikka but contributions by many. @YaleMed
@medrxivpreprint @IsabelOtt @YaleMed @NathanGrubaugh @VirusesImmunity @YaleSPH @US_FDA @NBA @robbysikka So to be clear…@NathanGrubaugh @awylie13 & team, with help from @NBA, have done the science to support excellent, inexpensive saliva test (reagents <$4), and IP will be shared with world. Goal: ramp up testing rapidly. Other innovators likely to follow, but this is ready v soon.
