Recap written by Madison Bean
Clemson University recently had the privilege of hosting Anne Wyllie, a research scientist from the Yale School of Public Health as part of the Page Morton Hunter Distinguished Seminar Series, where she presented on saliva as a reliable sample type for sustainable surveillance and outbreak response efforts. The Page Morton Hunter Distinguished Seminar Series in Bioengineering brings distinguished speakers from across the country to Clemson to speak about research, challenges and innovation in bioengineering.
Yale School of Medicine
A New Zealand native, Wyllie is a world renown microbiologist whose work led to the development of the SalivaDirect test, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved, open-source saliva PCR test that helped to shape how the Clemson University Research and Education in Disease Diagnosis and Intervention (REDDI) Lab set up its own saliva tests. Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, Wyllie’s work identified saliva as a reliable sample type for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in people suspected of COVID-19 infection. Saliva samples can alleviate many of the bottlenecks encountered in the mass testing strategies required to control continuing outbreaks. In an effort to address these issues, Wyllie validated and optimized saliva for SARS-CoV-2 detection, which led to the development of SalivaDirect testing. It is a simple, scalable and cost-effective method to help alleviate SARS-CoV-2 testing demands. Wyllie’s SalivaDirect initiative remains devoted to providing public health guidance, advancing saliva diagnostics and enabling the safe re-opening of communities worldwide.
During her visit to Clemson, Wyllie met with faculty and staff at Clemson involved with the COVID-19 response teams and from a wide range of departments and colleges on campus. This led to interesting multidisciplinary discussions on different strategies for public health screening and how to leverage the infrastructure and resources built for the pandemic to further help the university and community as COVID-19 becomes an endemic disease. Wyllie also met with Clemson undergraduate students and graduate students to discuss post-graduation plans and goals for their future. While talking with students, Wyllie also discussed current flu research being conducted at the REDDI Lab. In addition to talking about the new science for public health, Wyllie also discussed educational pipelines preparing the next generation workforce to address emerging and continuing community healthcare needs. Her talk in the Page Morton Hunter Distinguished Seminar in the Watt Family Innovation Center was attended by over 100 faculty, students, and staff. For more information about the Page Morton Hunter Distinguished Seminar Series, visit here.
