Saliva Test for COVID-19: Researchers Enable Alternative to Nasal Swabs (U.S. News)

Meet the scientists developing noninvasive, more accessible coronavirus testing methods.

Andrew Berglund, director of the RNA Institute at the University at Albany in New York, has devoted much of his career to studying myotonic dystrophy, a common form of muscular dystrophy. But in 2020 his laboratory made a sharp pivot to pandemic work – developing pooled saliva testing to allow widespread COVID-19 surveillance among university students, faculty and staff. Pooled testing allows the university to get a better snapshot of COVID-19 prevalence among those showing no signs, but without the expense of diagnostic testing for every single person.