URI researchers launch clinical trial for new saliva-based COVID-19 test

ANGELA SLITT, a professor of biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Rhode Island, led a team of researchers to create a saliva-based COVID-19 test and launched a clinical trial this week. / COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND
ANGELA SLITT, a professor of biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Rhode Island, led a team of researchers to create a saliva-based COVID-19 test and launched a clinical trial this week. / COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND

SOUTH KINGSTOWN – A team of researchers at the University of Rhode Island have created a saliva-based COVID-19 test that is going to be put to use with some students on the university’s campus as a screening and surveillance tool for the coronavirus. If the test is successful, the researchers plan to seek federal emergency use authorization to put the test into practice.

Angela Slitt, professor of biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences at URI who is leading the project, told Providence Business News Tuesday that when Rhode Island found its first case of COVID-19 last March, she felt there was a technology in the laboratory used previously for diagnostic tests and could be used to detect COVID-19 from “complex samples,” such as saliva.

“Once [the virus] hit Rhode Island, there was a gravity among us researchers to see what we could do to help,” Slitt said. “Especially knowing that the [R.I.] Department of Health would eventually have samples that they could share with us.”

URI said Slitt’s research team soon began last spring working on the test that uses DNA assay technology when the polymerase chain reaction tests that are used to detect COVID-19 were of limited supply at that time. While the PCR tests are effective, URI said they also require nucleic acids to be extracted, access to thermocyclers and other major lab equipment that wasn’t readily available outside of the United States.

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This saliva test, which Slitt said involves individuals providing saliva in a small test tube, can deliver results at a lower cost. Slitt said the results from the saliva test can be produced in about the same amount of time as the current tests – roughly between 24 to 48 hours.

Slitt said her team launched the clinical trial this week for the new test and the team is recruiting student athletes to be part of the trial since those students are being tested more frequently than the normal population. URI, Slitt said, has worked with the National Collegiate Athletic Association to allow the test to be a surveillance tool for athletes.

About 500 student athletes at URI are being enrolled for the clinical trial, Slitt said, with the goal of getting about 20,000 tests delivered over the next few months. Students who are symptomatic are also being enrolled in the trial as well, Slitt said, and URI staff can enroll if they wish.

“What we want to do is to confirm our limited detection using a real-world kind of scenario,” Slitt said, noting that the researchers need to find detection over the next couple of months to see if the test is working. If it does, the team will put together paperwork to get emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.

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