Research Scientist
Yale School of Public Health
Disclosure: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.
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 older adults and more recently, SARS-CoV-2 in persons suspected of COVID-19. 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 can alleviate many of the bottlenecks encountered in the mass testing strategies required to control continuing outbreaks. In an effort to address many of these issues, 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 SalivaDirect Initiative at the Yale School of Public Health remains devoted to providing public health guidance, advancing saliva diagnostics, and enabling the safe re-opening of communities worldwide. 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.
